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Review
. 2023 Jul 10:881:163453.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163453. Epub 2023 Apr 12.

SARS-CoV-2 in the environment: Contamination routes, detection methods, persistence and removal in wastewater treatment plants

Ali Atoui  1 , Christophe Cordevant  2 , Thierry Chesnot  3 , Benoît Gassilloud  3
Affiliations
Review

SARS-CoV-2 in the environment: Contamination routes, detection methods, persistence and removal in wastewater treatment plants

Ali Atoui et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

The present study reviewed the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and the evaluation of virus infectivity in feces and environmental matrices. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in feces and wastewater samples, reported in several studies, has generated interest and concern regarding the possible fecal-oral route of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. To date, the presence of viable SARS-CoV-2 in feces of COVID-19 infected people is not clearly confirmed although its isolation from feces of six different patients. Further, there is no documented evidence on the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, sludge and environmental water samples, although the viral genome has been detected in these matrices. Decay data revealed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA persisted longer than infectious particle in all aquatic environment, indicating that genome quantification of SARS-CoV-2 does not imply the presence of infective viral particles. In addition, this review also outlined the fate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA during the different steps in the wastewater treatment plant and focusing on the virus elimination along the sludge treatment line. Studies showed complete removal of SARS-CoV-2 during the tertiary treatment. Moreover, thermophilic sludge treatments present high efficiency in SARS-CoV-2 inactivation. Further studies are required to provide more evidence with respect to the inactivation behavior of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental matrices and to examine factors affecting SARS-CoV-2 persistence.

Keywords: Decay; Detection methods; Fate; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment plants.

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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
Potential modes of environmental contamination by SARS-CoV-2. Dashed arrow indicates suspected contamination routes where no data has been collected.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
log10 k of infections SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater and other water matrices at different temperatures. Dashed lines represent the linear regression fits for each target. Individual k values are obtained from previous studies and presented in Table S1. log10 k of infections SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater and other water matrices at different temperatures. Dashed lines represent the linear regression fits for each target. Individual k values are obtained from previous studies and presented in Table S1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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