SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in Hospital Wastewater: CLEIA vs. RT-qPCR
Issued Date
2023-07-01
Resource Type
eISSN
20734441
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85164905804
Journal Title
Water (Switzerland)
Volume
15
Issue
13
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Water (Switzerland) Vol.15 No.13 (2023)
Suggested Citation
Thongpradit S., Chanprasertyothin S., Pasomsub E., Ongphiphadhanakul B., Prasongtanakij S. SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in Hospital Wastewater: CLEIA vs. RT-qPCR. Water (Switzerland) Vol.15 No.13 (2023). doi:10.3390/w15132495 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/88072
Title
SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in Hospital Wastewater: CLEIA vs. RT-qPCR
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
The utilization of wastewater as a community surveillance method grew during the COVID-19 epidemic. COVID-19 hospitalizations are closely connected with wastewater viral signals, and increases in wastewater viral signals can serve as an early warning indication for rising hospital admissions. While reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most often used approach for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) is an alternative automated method. In two assays, 92 wastewater grab samples from a hospital were investigated for the presence of SARS-CoV-2, expected for continuous and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. One was in the RT-qPCR nucleic acid test, and another was in the CLEIA assay quantitative antigen test. In 24/92 (26.09%) of the wastewater samples, RT-qPCR identified at least two SARS-CoV-2 genes (ORF1ab, N, or S genes). CLEIA, on the other hand, detected SARS-CoV-2 antigen in 39/92 (42.39%) of the samples. CLEIA demonstrated a low sensitivity and specificity of sensitivity of 54.2% (95% CI: 44.0–64.3%) and 61.8% (95% CI: 51.8–71.7%), respectively, as compared to RT-qPCR. The κ coefficient indicated slight agreement between assay. Then, the CLEIA assay cannot replace molecular-based testing like RT PCR for determining SARS-CoV-2 in hospital wastewater.