Urban Wastewater-Based Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Virus: A Two-Year Study Conducted in City of Patras, Greece

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology, during the COVID-19 pandemic years, has been applied as a complementary approach, worldwide, for tracking SARS-CoV-2 virus into the community and used as an early warning of the prevalence of COVID-19 infection. The present study presents the results of the 2-year surveillance project, in the city of Patras, Greece. The purpose of the study was to monitor SARS-CoV-2 and implement WBE as an early warning method of monitoring Public Health impact. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 was determined and quantified in 310 samples using RT-qPCR assays. For the years 2022 and 2023, 93.5% and 78.7% of samples were found positive, respectively. Comparison of detection methods have been conducted to select the method with the highest recovery of the viral load. A seasonal variation of the virus was recorded, showing a recession in summer months confirming the country's epidemiological data as indicated by positive correlation of wastewater viral load with registered cases of COVID-19 infections during these years (p < 0.05) and moreover sealed with a significant negative correlation observed with Daily Average (p < 0.01) and Daily Maximum Temperature (p < 0.01). More research was carried out to elucidate a possible association of physicochemical characteristics of wastewater with viral load showing positive correlation with Chlorides (p < 0.01) advocating possible increased use of chlorine-based disinfectants and Electrical Conductivity (p < 0.01) indicates that wastewater during periods of increased infections is more heavily loaded with ions from chemical and biological pollutants. No correlation found with rainfall and physicochemical indicators, such as COD, BOD₅, Total Phosphorus, Total Nitrogen, and Total Suspended Solids. According to the findings, WBE represents a useful tool in the management of epidemics based on an environmental approach and it can also shed light on the interacting parameters that capture Public Health since any infections that may lead to epidemics lead to a parallel change in the use of pharmaceuticals, antimicrobials, disinfectants, and microbial load in urban wastewater.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Surveillance; Urban Wastewater; Wastewater-based epidemiology.