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Advances in virus detection methods for wastewater-based epidemiological applications - PubMed

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Advances in virus detection methods for wastewater-based epidemiological applications

Mary Vermi Aizza Corpuz et al. Case Stud Chem Environ Eng. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a powerful tool that has the potential to reveal the extent of an ongoing disease outbreak or to predict an emerging one. Recent studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater may be correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases in the corresponding population. Most of the recent studies and applications of wastewater-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 applied the "gold standard" real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) detection method. However, this method also has its limitations. The paper aimed to present recent improvements and applications of the PCR-based methods for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in wastewater. Furthermore, it aimed to review alternative methods utilized and/or proposed for the detection of the virus in wastewater matrices. From the review, it was found that several studies have investigated the use of reverse-transcription digital polymerase reaction (RT-dPCR), which was generally shown to have a lower limit of detection (LOD) over the RT-qPCR. Aside from this, non-PCR-based and non-RNA based methods have also been explored for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, with detailed attention given to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 proteins. The potential methods for protein detection include mass spectrometry, the use of immunosensors, and nanotechnological applications. In addition, the review of recent studies also revealed two types of emerging methods related to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: i) capsid-integrity assays to infer about the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 present in wastewater, and ii) alternative methods for detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) in wastewater. The recent studies on proposed methods of SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater have considered improving this approach in one or more of the following aspects: rapidity, simplicity, cost, sensitivity, and specificity. However, further studies are needed in order to realize the full application of these methods for WBE in the field.

Keywords: Capsid integrity; Digital polymerase reaction; SARS-CoV-2 detection; SARS-CoV-2 protein; Variants of concern; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

© 2022 The Author(s).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1

Depiction of RT-PCR process (a) and molecular pathway of PCR (b).

Fig. 2
Fig. 2

Depiction of traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative or real time PCR (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR). Reproduced with permission (Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license) from Quan et al. (2018) [28].

Fig. 3
Fig. 3

Workflow of capsid integrity-based RT-qPCR assays. Reproduced with permission (Creative Commons CC-BY license) from Leifels et al. (2021) [36].

Fig. 4
Fig. 4

Overview of (CRISPR)-Cas12a assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Reproduced with permission from Tsou et al. (2021) (Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license) [41].

Fig. 5
Fig. 5

Example of application of WBE for monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Italy by La Rosa et al. [65]. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [65].

Fig. 6
Fig. 6

Application of WBE. Adapted with permission from McMahan et al. (2021) [73].

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