Wastewater-based epidemiology of Campylobacter spp.: A systematic review and meta-analysis of influent, effluent, and removal of wastewater treatment plants

Shuxin Zhang; Jiahua Shi; Xuan Li; Ananda Tiwari; Shuhong Gao; Xu Zhou; Xiaoyan Sun; Jake W O'Brien; Lachlan Coin; Faisal Hai; Guangming Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166410

Wastewater-based epidemiology of Campylobacter spp.: A systematic review and meta-analysis of influent, effluent, and removal of wastewater treatment plants

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 10:903:166410. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166410. Epub 2023 Aug 18.

Authors

Shuxin Zhang¹, Jiahua Shi², Xuan Li³, Ananda Tiwari⁴, Shuhong Gao⁵, Xu Zhou⁵, Xiaoyan Sun⁶, Jake W O'Brien⁷, Lachlan Coin⁸, Faisal Hai¹, Guangming Jiang⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia.
² School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Australia.
³ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁴ Department of Health Security, Expert Microbiology Research Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁶ School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, 519082 Zhuhai, China.
⁷ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁸ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁹ School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia; School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Australia. Electronic address: gjiang@uow.edu.au.

PMID: 37597560
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166410

Abstract

Campylobacter spp. is one of the four leading causes of diarrhoeal diseases worldwide, which are generally mild but can be fatal in children, the elderly, and immunosuppressed persons. The existing disease surveillance for Campylobacter infections is usually based on untimely clinical reports. Wastewater surveillance or wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been developed for the early warning of disease outbreaks and the detection of the emerging new variants of human pathogens, especially after the global pandemic of COVID-19. However, the WBE monitoring of Campylobacter infections in communities is rare due to a few large data gaps. This study is a meta-analysis and systematic review of the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in various wastewater samples, primarily the influent of wastewater treatment plants. The results showed that the overall prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 53.26 % in influent wastewater and 52.97 % in all types of wastewater samples. The mean concentration in the influent was 3.31 ± 0.39 log10 gene copies or most probable number (MPN) per 100 mL. The detection method combining culture and PCR yielded the highest positive rate of 90.86 %, while RT-qPCR and qPCR were the two most frequently used quantification methods. In addition, the Campylobacter concentration in influent wastewater showed a seasonal fluctuation, with the highest concentration in the autumn at 3.46 ± 0.41 log10 gene copies or MPN per 100 mL. Based on the isolates of all positive samples, Campylobacter jejuni (62.34 %) was identified as the most prevalent species in wastewater, followed by Campylobacter coli (30.85 %) and Campylobacter lari (4.4 %). These findings provided significant data to further develop and optimize the wastewater surveillance of Campylobacter spp. infections. In addition, large data gaps were found in the decay of Campylobacter spp. in wastewater, indicating insufficient research on the persistence of Campylobacter spp. in wastewater.

Keywords: Campylobacter coli; Campylobacter jejuni; Campylobacter spp.; Meta-analysis; Prevalence; Wastewater surveillance; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

Publication types

Review