This study aimed to utilize wastewater surveillance for monitoring Mpox cases at a community level. Untreated wastewater samples were collected once a week from two wastewater treatment plants (A and B) in Baltimore City from July 27, 2022-September 22, 2022. The samples were concentrated via an adsorption-elution (AE) method and Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) precipitation method followed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Monkeypox virus (MPXV) was detected in 89 % (8/9) samples from WWTP A and 55 % (5/9) samples from WWTP B with at least one concentration method. Higher detection rate in samples concentrated with PEG precipitation compared to AE method was observed, indicating that PEG precipitation is a more effective virus concentration method for MPXV. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the detection of MPXV in wastewater in Baltimore. The results highlight that wastewater surveillance could be used as a complementary early warning tool for monitoring future Mpox outbreaks.
Keywords: Adsorption-elution; Monkeypox; PEG precipitation; Wastewater-based epidemiology.
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