Mpox virus detection in the wastewater and the number of hospitalized patients in the Poznan metropolitan area, Poland

Abstract

Objectives: Wastewater-based epidemiology can determine the scale of a mpox epidemic and thus is a promising additional tool that can complete data gathered by the clinical monitoring approach and predict more accurately the development and progress of the current mpox outbreak.

Methods: We collected daily average samples from two wastewater treatment plants (WTPs): Central and Left-Bank, in Poznan, Poland from July to December 2022. The mpox DNA was detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction and compared with the number of hospitalizations.

Results: We detected the mpox DNA in the Central WTP in weeks 29, 43, and 47 and the Left-Bank WTP mostly from mid-September till the end of October. A total of 22 patients with mpox were reported by the public health authority from July to December 2022, with the highest number of hospitalized individuals from mid-July to mid-August. The mpox virus detection does not correlate with the number of hospitalizations in Poznan, Poland.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that the scale of the mpox epidemic is underestimated, and many mpox virus-infected individuals are not identified by the public health authority.

Keywords: Epidemic; Mpox; Mpox virus; Poland; Wastewater.