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. 2021 Jul 1:776:145724.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145724. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

First detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the vicinity of COVID-19 isolation Centre in Bangladesh: Variation along the sewer network

Firoz Ahmed  1 , Md Aminul Islam  2 , Manish Kumar  3 , Maqsud Hossain  4 , Prosun Bhattacharya  5 , Md Tahmidul Islam  5 , Foysal Hossen  2 , Md Shahadat Hossain  6 , Md Sydul Islam  7 , Md Main Uddin  6 , Md Nur Islam  6 , Newaz Mohammed Bahadur  7 , Md Didar-Ul-Alam  8 , Hasan Mahmud Reza  9 , Md Jakariya  10
Affiliations

First detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the vicinity of COVID-19 isolation Centre in Bangladesh: Variation along the sewer network

Firoz Ahmed et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

We made the first and successful attempt to detect SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the vicinity wastewaters of an isolation centre i.e. Shaheed Bhulu Stadium, situated at Noakhali, Southeastern Bangladesh. Owing to the fact that isolation centre, in general, always contained a constant number of 200 COVID-19 patients, the prime objective of the study was to check if several drains carrying RNA of coronavirus are actually getting diluted or accumulated along with the sewage network. Our finding suggested that while the temporal variation of the genetic load decreased in small drains over the span of 50 days, the main sewer exhibited accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Other interesting finding displays that probably distance of sampling location in meters is not likely to have a significant impact on the detected gene concentration, although the quantity of the RNA extracted in the downstream of the drain was higher. These findings are of immense value from the perspective of wastewater surveillance of COVID-19, as they largely imply that we do not need to monitor every wastewater system, and probably major drains monitoring may illustrate the city health. Perhaps, we are reporting the accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material along with the sewer network i.e. from primary to tertiary drains. The study sought further data collection in this line to simulate conditions prevailed in most of the developing countries and to shed further light on decay/accumulation processes of the genetic load of the SARS-COV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; Environmental surveillance; Isolation Centre; SARS-COV-2; Sewage waste.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest 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

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study area depicting, geographical locations of a) Bangladesh; b) Noakhali District in the Southern Bangladesh; c) Stadium location in the district; d) Stadium and isolation Centre established at the Shaheed Bhulu Stadium; and e) Schematic detail of the sampling location at various drains outlets, canal and main sewer line.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Amplification plots obtained through RT-PCR in the samples from the drains and the main canal.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Box-whisker plot illustrating the Ct-value variations of three genes for the entire monitoring period along with the outliers.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Trend in genetic material loading of SARS-CoV-2 along with the distance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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