Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Variants in Hospital Wastewater in a Developing Country
Issued Date
2022-12-01
Resource Type
eISSN
20734441
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85143732941
Journal Title
Water (Switzerland)
Volume
14
Issue
23
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Water (Switzerland) Vol.14 No.23 (2022)
Suggested Citation
Tiacharoen V., Denpetkul T., Kosoltanapiwat N., Maneekan P., Thippornchai N., Saeoueng A., Jittmittraphap A., Sattabongkot J., Leaungwutiwong P. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Variants in Hospital Wastewater in a Developing Country. Water (Switzerland) Vol.14 No.23 (2022). doi:10.3390/w14233798 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/83503
Title
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Variants in Hospital Wastewater in a Developing Country
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a beneficial tool for comprehensive health information on communities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In developing countries, including Thailand, the application of WBE is limited. Few SARS-CoV-2 detections and variants have been monitored in wastewater in these countries. This is because of the time-consuming, low recovery of viruses in the concentration techniques and difficulties in finding the proper primers and amplification kits. Therefore, this study aimed to quantify SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration using a commercial clinical kit. We identified the SARS-CoV-2 variants and estimated the detection costs in the wastewater samples. One hundred and fifty hospital wastewater samples were filtered with commercial ultrafiltration (UF) and then detected for the SARS-CoV-2 concentration using a Sansure Biotech SARS-CoV-2 kit. The recovery of the virus concentration technique in UF was studied using a surrogate (porcine epidemic diarrhea virus). The virus detection in wastewater was quantified by RT-qPCR. In addition, the mutation sites in the partial spike glycoprotein (S) gene of SARS-CoV-2 were verified using short nested RT-PCR. The results showed a high recovery of the commercial UF (80.53%), and 24.6% of hospital wastewater contained SARS-CoV-2. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater cost USD 35.43 per sample. The virus variants revealed V70del, H69del, and V144del mutations in the partial S gene of SARS-CoV-2 in B.1.1.7 (SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant), and T95I and G142D mutations in B.1.617.2 (Delta variant).