Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jun:27:100334.
doi: 10.1016/j.coesh.2022.100334. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh: Opportunities and challenges

Rehnuma Haque  1   2 , Christine L Moe  3 , Suraja J Raj  3 , Li Ong  4 , Katrina Charles  4 , Allen G Ross  1 , Tahmina Shirin  5 , Rubhana Raqib  1 , Protim Sarker  1 , Mahbubur Rahman  1 , Mohammed Ziaur Rahman  1 , Nuhu Amin  1 , Zahid Hayat Mahmud  1 , Mahbubur Rahman  5 , Dara Johnston  6 , Nargis Akter  6 , Taqsem A Khan  7 , Md Alamgir Hossain  7 , Rezaul Hasan  1 , M Tahmidul Islam  8 , Prosun Bhattacharya  8
Affiliations
Review

Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh: Opportunities and challenges

Rehnuma Haque et al. Curr Opin Environ Sci Health. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

The ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health crisis of global concern. The progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has been monitored in the first place by testing symptomatic individuals for SARS-CoV-2 virus in the respiratory samples. Concurrently, wastewater carries feces, urine, and sputum that potentially contains SARS-CoV-2 intact virus or partially damaged viral genetic materials excreted by infected individuals. This brings significant opportunities for understanding the infection dynamics by environmental surveillance. It has advantages for the country, especially in densely populated areas where individual clinical testing is difficult. However, there are several challenges including: 1) establishing a sampling plan and schedule that is representative of the various catchment populations 2) development and validation of standardized protocols for the laboratory analysis 3) understanding hydraulic flows and virus transport in complex wastewater drainage systems and 4) collaborative efforts from government agencies, NGOs, public health units and academia.

Keywords: Low-income countries; SARS-CoV-2; Sanitation; Sewage; WASH; Wastewater.

PubMed Disclaimer

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
Figure 1
Figure 1
Wastewater surveillance proposed implementation steps in Bangladesh.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Meng X., Wang X., Meng S., Wang Y., Liu H., Liang D., Fan W., Min H., Huang W., Chen A., et al. A global overview of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: detection, treatment, and prevention. ACS EST Water. 2021;1:2174–2185. - PubMed

    2. This study demonstrated the significant global overview of implementing SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance.

    1. Wu Y., Guo C., Tang L., Hong Z., Zhou J., Dong X., Yin H., Xiao Q., Tang Y., Qu X., et al. Prolonged presence of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in faecal samples. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;5:434–435. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheung K.S., Hung I.F.N., Chan P.P.Y., Lung K.C., Tso E., Liu R., Ng Y.Y., Chu M.Y., Chung T.W.H., Tam A.R., et al. Gastrointestinal manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection and virus load in fecal samples from a Hong Kong cohort: systematic review and meta-analysis. Gastroenterology. 2020;159:81–95. - PMC - PubMed

    2. This meta-analysis detected SARS-CoV-2 genetic materials in stool from 48.1% of patients, even after respiratory samples were found negative thus, concluded fecal shedding is longer than the respiratory samples.

    1. Zheng S., Fan J., Yu F., Feng B., Lou B., Zou Q., Xie G., Lin S., Wang R., Yang X., et al. Viral load dynamics and disease severity in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Zhejiang province, China, January-March 2020: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2020;369:m1443. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Foladori P., Cutrupi F., Segata N., Manara S., Pinto F., Malpei F., Bruni L., La Rosa G. SARS-CoV-2 from faeces to wastewater treatment: what do we know? A review. Sci Total Environ. 2020;743:140444. - PMC - PubMed

    2. This article estimates the fecal shedding from a COVID-19 infected patient is 5•103–107.6 copies/mL and reduced at least 2 copies before entering the WWTP.

LinkOut - more resources