Studying the presence of SARS-CoV-۲ in wastewater

from the beginning of the outbreak of Covid-۱۹ in the country, the officials of the water and wastewater company decided to monitor the SARS-CoV-۲ virus in the aqueous environment (water and wastewater). At first, the latest methods and instructions from WHO and EPA for identifying coronavirus and other enveloped viruses were reviewed. Due to the lack of a standard test method for the detection of this virus in water and wastewater, a method for SARS-CoV-۲ identification was developed by a combination of the ۲۰۱۷ standard method and the EPA۱۶۱۵ standard. Then, the required equipments and materials were prepared and the test methods were implemented for the first time on ۲۰۲۰/۰۶/۲۲. Sampling was performed according to the standard method of ۲۰۱۷ from the incoming raw wastewater and the effluent of twenty municipal wastewater treatment plants located in Tehran province. Raw wastewater and effluent of wastewater treatment plants were monitored by RT-PCR method from July to the end of December. Because of the nature of raw wastewater, concentration-time lasts between ۸ to ۱۳ hours for each test. Enterovirus test was used as positive control to validate the method. Also, comparative tests were performed in three rounds between the laboratories of Tehran and Alborz Provinces. Results showed ۶۰% of the raw wastewater samples were contaminated with SARS-CoV-۲, while the virus genome was not observed in the effluent. Due to the presence of the virus from several days before the onset of symptoms in infected people and its excretion until long after the end of the acute period of infection, according to wastewater-based epidemiology, monitoring the virus genome in raw wastewater in addition to monitoring the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants, also can alert the country's health net about any outbreak in different places.

کلیدواژه ها:

Coronavirus ، Treated effluent ، RT-PCR Method