Sewage surveillance as warning system for early detection of SARS-CoV-2
The current coronavirus pandemic is a major challenge to society.
Surveillance is crucial to know where the virus is circulating and what the effects are
of the measures taken. The first experiences in the spring of 2020 have shown
that the virus can be detected in sewage. In some cities, the virus was already
detectable in sewage water earlier than the first sick people with SARS coronavirus
(SARS-CoV-2) were identified. This is because a good portion of people with
a SARS coronavirus infection (COVID-19) also have virus in their stool.
The research question is how sewage water surveillance can best be used and whether the amount of virus in sewage water can be used to estimate
the number of people with an infection in the neighborhood where the sewage comes from.
This is done by linking data below ground (sewage) with data above ground (positively tested
persons and number of sick people). In this researchproject data are collected from different sources to compare what data or what combination of
data provides the most reliable the extent of the pandemic, the circulation of coronavirus and the new coronavirus variants in the city.
Read more in Newsletter 2 about the Research project ‘Sewage surveillance as warning system for early detection of SARS-CoV-2: newsletter (Dutch). This newsletter is coordinated by Miranda de Graaf.
