Can we use sewage water to detect COVID-19 in a community?
Can we use sewage water to detect COVID-19 in a community?
This explainer is more than 90 days old. Some of the information might be out of date or no longer relevant. Browse our homepage for up to date content or request information about a specific topic from our team of scientists.
This article has been translated from its original language. Please reach out if you have any feedback on the translation.
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. It leaves the human body through our waste, so flushing the toilet with that waste means traces of the virus can be found in sewage water. This is why COVID-19 has been recently detected in sewage water in regions that have tested for it. By collecting water from sewers, scientists in the U.S. and Europe are now testing sewage for the virus, using it as a collective sample to measure infection levels among thousands of people. Recent studies have shown that sewage water can be used as an early diagnostic tool for determining where potential COVID-19 cases might be occurring in a city. A recent study showed that measuring virus levels in municipal sewage helped researchers predict where forthcoming COVID-19 cases would be coming from a week before people began testing positive for the virus in that area. They did this by comparing the amount of virus found in the sewage water with the amount of confirmed cases in an area's hospitals. We have observed that estimating the true number of COVID-19 cases is extremely challenging; these estimates often lead to underestimating the true scope of the pandemic in a community because many people are never tested for the virus even if they are ill. Moreover, asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms may never seek out testing and therefore won't be counted; but they can still transmit the virus. In this context, measuring overall virus levels in sewage over time could indicate the scope of the pandemic; indicate whether an outbreak is growing or shrinking; and can act as a surveillance system that would allow to detect new waves of an outbreak before patients develop symptoms and go to hospitals. (Source: [Biobot Analytics](https://www.biobot.io/))
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. It leaves the human body through our waste, so flushing the toilet with that waste means traces of the virus can be found in sewage water. This is why COVID-19 has been recently detected in sewage water in regions that have tested for it. By collecting water from sewers, scientists in the U.S. and Europe are now testing sewage for the virus, using it as a collective sample to measure infection levels among thousands of people. Recent studies have shown that sewage water can be used as an early diagnostic tool for determining where potential COVID-19 cases might be occurring in a city. A recent study showed that measuring virus levels in municipal sewage helped researchers predict where forthcoming COVID-19 cases would be coming from a week before people began testing positive for the virus in that area. They did this by comparing the amount of virus found in the sewage water with the amount of confirmed cases in an area's hospitals. We have observed that estimating the true number of COVID-19 cases is extremely challenging; these estimates often lead to underestimating the true scope of the pandemic in a community because many people are never tested for the virus even if they are ill. Moreover, asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms may never seek out testing and therefore won't be counted; but they can still transmit the virus. In this context, measuring overall virus levels in sewage over time could indicate the scope of the pandemic; indicate whether an outbreak is growing or shrinking; and can act as a surveillance system that would allow to detect new waves of an outbreak before patients develop symptoms and go to hospitals. (Source: [Biobot Analytics](https://www.biobot.io/))
Publication
What our experts say
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. It leaves the human body through our waste, so flushing the toilet with that waste means traces of the virus can be found in sewage water. This is why COVID-19 has been recently detected in sewage water in regions that have tested for it. By collecting water from sewers, scientists in the U.S. and Europe are now testing sewage for the virus, using it as a collective sample to measure infection levels among thousands of people. Recent studies have shown that sewage water can be used as an early diagnostic tool for determining where potential COVID-19 cases might be occurring in a city. A recent study showed that measuring virus levels in municipal sewage helped researchers predict where forthcoming COVID-19 cases would be coming from a week before people began testing positive for the virus in that area. They did this by comparing the amount of virus found in the sewage water with the amount of confirmed cases in an area's hospitals. We have observed that estimating the true number of COVID-19 cases is extremely challenging; these estimates often lead to underestimating the true scope of the pandemic in a community because many people are never tested for the virus even if they are ill. Moreover, asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms may never seek out testing and therefore won't be counted; but they can still transmit the virus. In this context, measuring overall virus levels in sewage over time could indicate the scope of the pandemic; indicate whether an outbreak is growing or shrinking; and can act as a surveillance system that would allow to detect new waves of an outbreak before patients develop symptoms and go to hospitals.
(Source: Biobot Analytics)
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. It leaves the human body through our waste, so flushing the toilet with that waste means traces of the virus can be found in sewage water. This is why COVID-19 has been recently detected in sewage water in regions that have tested for it. By collecting water from sewers, scientists in the U.S. and Europe are now testing sewage for the virus, using it as a collective sample to measure infection levels among thousands of people. Recent studies have shown that sewage water can be used as an early diagnostic tool for determining where potential COVID-19 cases might be occurring in a city. A recent study showed that measuring virus levels in municipal sewage helped researchers predict where forthcoming COVID-19 cases would be coming from a week before people began testing positive for the virus in that area. They did this by comparing the amount of virus found in the sewage water with the amount of confirmed cases in an area's hospitals. We have observed that estimating the true number of COVID-19 cases is extremely challenging; these estimates often lead to underestimating the true scope of the pandemic in a community because many people are never tested for the virus even if they are ill. Moreover, asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms may never seek out testing and therefore won't be counted; but they can still transmit the virus. In this context, measuring overall virus levels in sewage over time could indicate the scope of the pandemic; indicate whether an outbreak is growing or shrinking; and can act as a surveillance system that would allow to detect new waves of an outbreak before patients develop symptoms and go to hospitals.
(Source: Biobot Analytics)
Context and background
Sewage contains valuable information on human health as viruses, bacteria, and chemical metabolites are excreted in urine and stool and provide a readout of an individual’s health status. In some diseases, people excrete viruses before they show symptoms, meaning that sewage can provide an early indicator of disease spread before people start seeking care. The technical term for analyzing sewage as a source of public health information is Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE). (Source: Biobot Analytics)
Sewage contains valuable information on human health as viruses, bacteria, and chemical metabolites are excreted in urine and stool and provide a readout of an individual’s health status. In some diseases, people excrete viruses before they show symptoms, meaning that sewage can provide an early indicator of disease spread before people start seeking care. The technical term for analyzing sewage as a source of public health information is Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE). (Source: Biobot Analytics)
Resources
- SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater foreshadow dynamics and clinical presentation of new COVID-19 cases (medRxiv)
- SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in primary municipal sewage sludge as a leading indicator of COVID-19 outbreak dynamics (medRxiv)
- SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater are higher than expected from clinically confirmed cases (medRxiv)
- SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater foreshadow dynamics and clinical presentation of new COVID-19 cases (medRxiv)
- SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in primary municipal sewage sludge as a leading indicator of COVID-19 outbreak dynamics (medRxiv)
- SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater are higher than expected from clinically confirmed cases (medRxiv)
