ABSTRACT
Wastewater surveillance has been widely used as a supplemental method to track the community infection levels of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. A gap exists in standardized reporting for fecal indicator concentrations, which can be used to calibrate the primary outcome concentrations from wastewater monitoring for use in epidemiological models. To address this, measurements of fecal indicator concentration among wastewater samples collected from sewers and treatment centers in four counties of Kentucky (N = 650) were examined. Results from the untransformed wastewater data over 4 months of sampling indicated that the fecal indicator concentration of human ribonuclease P (RNase P) ranged from 5.1 × 101 to 1.15 × 106 copies/ml, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) ranged from 7.23 × 103 to 3.53 × 107 copies/ml, and cross-assembly phage (CrAssphage) ranged from 9.69 × 103 to 1.85 × 108 copies/ml. The results showed both regional and temporal variability. If fecal indicators are used as normalization factors, knowing the daily sewer system flow of the sample location may matter more than rainfall. RNase P, while it may be suitable as an internal amplification and sample adequacy control, has less utility than PMMoV and CrAssphage as a fecal indicator in wastewater samples when working at different sizes of catchment area. The choice of fecal indicator will impact the results of surveillance studies using this indicator to represent fecal load. Our results contribute broadly to an applicable standard normalization factor and assist in interpreting wastewater data in epidemiological modeling and monitoring.
ABSTRACT
Use of protective face mask is recommended to prevent/reduce COVID19 (SARS- CoV-2) human to human transmission. However, situation analysis of rational of use in view of different guidelines and its implementation at ground level, availability of mask, use, public perception, and disposal methods is required. Hence this online survey from literate population of 1019 adults across India from high and upper middle group (mean age 26.4 years) was conducted during lockdown April- May2020. High awareness (99.7%) and use (99.6%) of mask is reported, however mask disposal knowledge was found to be low as only 44.4% were doing waste segregation while using non-biodegradable mask. As such bio-waste may become potential reservoir for secondary transmissions, hence require attention and public education. If measures are not undertaken, 11.7 lakh Kg of non-biodegradable waste and through this 7.8 X 1016 virus copy anticipated to spread in environment per day. Despite limitation of design, language and representation of all this study provides matching assumptions on biomedical waste burden.
ABSTRACT
Wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 presents a means of tracking COVID-19 community infection dynamics on a broader geographic scale. However, accounting for environmental and sample-processing losses may be necessary for wastewater measurements to readily inform our understanding of infection prevalence. Here, we present measurements of the SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene targets from weekly wastewater samples at three sites in Hamilton County, Ohio, during an increase and subsequent decline of COVID-19 infections. The concentration of N1 or N2 RNA in wastewater, measured over the course of six months, ranged from below the detection limit to over 104 gene copies/l, and correlated with case data at two wastewater treatment plants, but not at a sub-sewershed-level sampling site. We also evaluated the utility of a broader range of variables than has been reported consistently in previous work, in improving correlations of SARS-CoV-2 concentrations with case data. These include a spiked matrix recovery control (OC43), flow-normalization, and assessment of fecal loading using endogenous fecal markers (HF183, PMMoV, crAssphage). We found that adjusting for recovery, flow, and fecal indicators increased these correlations for samples from a larger sewershed (serving ~488,000 people) with greater industrial and stormwater inputs, but raw N1/N2 concentrations corresponded better with case data at a smaller, residential-oriented sewershed. Our results indicate that the optimal adjustment factors for correlating wastewater and clinical case data moving forward may not be generalizable to all sewersheds.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Humans , Prevalence , RNA , WastewaterABSTRACT
The COVID 19 pandemic continues its havoc over the last six months in India. The present study of the initial phase of illnesses in mild to moderate cases of SARS-COVID is the rampant community transmission. This observational and cross-sectional study aimed to analyse and correlate the socioeconomic and demographic parameters with clinical and psychosocial presentations of the COVID disease through a questionnaire-based interaction Mild and moderate COVID positive patients with stable hemodynamic were enrolled for the study. The findings revealed that of the 179 patients, the majority of patients were adults below 60 years of age group, followed by the older age group above 60. Males had a slightly higher preponderance than females. The majority of people in their families were medium to big and overcrowded, lacked social distance and poor hygiene practises were partially attributable to bad social economic conditions. Most of the patients originated from the red area, i.e. high-risk zone, as well as the high level of transmission of COVID illnesses to human beings. The majority of patients were in the poor and lower middle classes (Kuppuswamy modified scale).Most of the occupations of COVID patients involved the lower strata labour jobs. Fifty percent of patients had no symptoms at onset and remained asymptomatic throughout the illness. There were many issues and insecurities in most patients relating to the current illness, future well-being of families, job and financial concerns that warrant strategies to be implemented during and in post COVID era.