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https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/61448
ZIKA VIRUS RNA PERSISTENCE AND RECOVERY IN WATER AND WASTEWATER: AN APPROACH FOR ZIKA VIRUS SURVEILLANCE IN RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED SETTINGS
Author
Affilliation
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Biology. College of Arts and Sciences. Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Gillings School of Global Public Health. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Biology. College of Arts and Sciences. Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. College Veterinary Medicine. Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI, USA.
Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador BA, Brasil / Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA / Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA / Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA / Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, Brasil.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Biology. College of Arts and Sciences. Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. Gillings School of Global Public Health. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Biology. College of Arts and Sciences. Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. College Veterinary Medicine. Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI, USA.
Ministério da Saúde. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador BA, Brasil / Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA / Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Yale School of Public Health. New Haven, CT, USA / Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. School of Public Health. University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA / Universidade Federal da Bahia. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Salvador, BA, Brasil.
Department of Population Health Sciences. School of Public Health, Georgia State University. Atlanta, GA, USA.
Abstract
During the 2015–2016 Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in the Americas, serological cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses and relatively high costs of nucleic acid testing in the region hindered the capacity for widespread diagnostic testing. In such cases where individual testing is not feasible, wastewater monitoring approaches may offer a means of community-level public health surveillance. To inform such approaches, we characterized the persistence and recovery of ZIKV RNA in experiments where we spiked cultured ZIKV into surface water, wastewater, and a combination of both to examine the potential for detection in open sewers serving communities most affected by the ZIKV outbreak, such as those in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. We used reverse transcription droplet digital PCR to quantify ZIKV RNA. In our persistence experiments, we found that the persistence of ZIKV RNA decreased with increasing temperature, significantly decreased in surface water versus wastewater, and significantly decreased when the initial concentration of virus was lowered by one order of magnitude. In our recovery experiments, we found higher percent recovery of ZIKV RNA in pellets versus supernatants from the same sample, higher recoveries in pellets using skimmed milk flocculation, lower recoveries of ZIKV RNA in surface water versus wastewater, and lower recoveries from a freeze thaw. We also analyzed samples collected from Salvador, Brazil during the ZIKV outbreak (2015–2016) that consisted of archived samples obtained from open sewers or environmental waters thought to be contaminated by sewage. Although we did not detect any ZIKV RNA in the archived Brazil samples, results from these persistence and recovery experiments serve to inform future wastewater monitoring efforts in open sewers, an understudied and important application of wastewater monitoring.
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