Scientists have found that wastewater testing could also be used as an early-warning sign if the coronavirus returns.
More than a dozen research groups worldwide have started analysing wastewater for the new coronavirus as a way to estimate the total number of infections in a community, given that most people will not be tested. The method could also be used to detect the coronavirus if it returns to communities, say scientists.
Analysing wastewater — used water that goes through the drainage system to a treatment facility — is one way that researchers can track infectious diseases that are excreted in urine or faeces.
One treatment plant can capture wastewater from more than one million people.
Monitoring influent at this scale could provide better estimates for how widespread the coronavirus is than testing, because wastewater surveillance can account for those who have not been tested and have only mild or no symptoms, says the researcher, who has detected SARS-CoV-2 genetic material — viral RNA — in several treatment plants in the Netherlands.
News Source: Nature
