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Review
. 2021;19(3):1917-1933.
doi: 10.1007/s10311-021-01202-1. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Detection and disinfection of COVID-19 virus in wastewater

Simranjeet Singh  1 , Vijay Kumar #  2 , Dhriti Kapoor  3 , Daljeet Singh Dhanjal  4 , Deepika Bhatia  5 , Sadaf Jan  3 , Nasib Singh  6 , Romina Romero  7 , Praveen C Ramamurthy  1 , Joginder Singh  4
Affiliations
Review

Detection and disinfection of COVID-19 virus in wastewater

Simranjeet Singh et al. Environ Chem Lett. 2021.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2, appears as a major pandemic having adverse impact on public health and economic activities. Since viral replication in human enterocytes results in its faecal shedding, wastewater surveillance is an ideal, non-invasive, cost-effective and an early warning epidemiological approach to detect the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we review techniques for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in municipal wastewater, and disinfectants used to control viral spread. For detection, concentration of ribonucleic acid involves ultrafiltration, ultracentrifugation and polyethylene glycol precipitation. Identification is done by reverse transcriptase amplification, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, helicase dependent amplification, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, recombinase polymerase amplification, high throughput screening and biosensor assays. Disinfectants include ultraviolet radiations, ozone, chlorine dioxide, hypochlorites and hydrogen peroxide. Wastewater surveillance data indicates viral presence within longer detection window, and provides transmission dynamics earlier than classical methods. This is particularly relevant for pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.

Keywords: COVID-19; Disinfection; Pandemic; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater surveillance; Wastewater treatment plants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Wastewater surveillance epidemiology approach for the monitoring of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) is concentrated followed by detection using polymerase chain reaction based molecular approaches and specifically designed biosensors. This rapid and timely detection of the viral RNA can help to initiate coordinated diagnostic and control strategies against COVID-19 pandemic
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Techniques available for the reliable and rapid detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 virus in municipal wastewater. Reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction remains the widely used method of COVID-19 virus detection. In addition, immunological assays, viral cultivation in animal cell cultures, transmission electron microscopy and biosensor-based portable devices are also available. Next-generation high-throughput sequencing is also considered a method of choice for larger sample analyses
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Disinfection methods for efficient inactivation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 virus in municipal wastewater. Chemical disinfectants represented by nonhazardous chlorine-containing compounds (hypochlorites or bleach and chlorine oxide) and hydrogen peroxide are useful for disinfection of COVID-19 virus in wastewater treatment plants. Other disinfection processes based on ultraviolet irradiation and ozonization are equally effective and amenable to widespread applications
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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