One Year of Wastewater Surveillance in South Africa Supporting COVID-19 Clinical Findings Across Two Waves of Infection
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been an important tool for the detection of COVID-19 outbreaks. The retrospective analysis of COVID-19 data is vital to understand the spread and impact of the virus as well as to inform future planning and response efforts. In this study, we evaluated the SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in wastewater from 21 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the City of Cape Town (South Africa) over a period of 12 months and compared the (inactive) SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in wastewater between wave 2 (November 2020 to January 2021) and wave 3 (June 2021 to September 2021). The SARS-CoV-2 RNA expression was quantified in wastewater using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) by targeting the nucleocapsid (N) gene, and the resultant signal was normalized to the WWTP design capacity and catchment size. Our findings show that the maximum SARS-CoV-2 RNA signal was significantly higher in wave 3 than in wave 2 (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The duration of wave 3 (15 weeks) was longer than that of wave 2 (10 weeks), and the wastewater surveillance data supported the clinical findings, as evidenced by the two distinct waves. Furthermore, the data demonstrated the importance of long-term wastewater surveillance as a key indicator of changing trends.
Authors
- Christo J. F. Muller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6821-2120)
- Mongezi Mdhluli
- Glenda Gray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4649-1477)
- Jyoti Sharma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0170-7342)
- Johan Louw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9023-1659)
- Renée Street (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1983-8968)
- Tarylee Reddy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9521-2692)
- Nomfundo Mahlangeni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8655-2794)
- Stephanie Dias (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3008-4279)
- Sizwe Nkambule (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3793-3544)
- Swastika Surujlal-Naicker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1081-8549)
- Rabia Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-0789)
- Pritika Ramharack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5850-6782)
- Natacha Berkowitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8797-5593)
- Noluxabiso Mangwana
- Candice Webster (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7618-1459)
- Angela Mathee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0060-829X)
Institutions
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- University of Zululand (ZA)
- University of Johannesburg (ZA)
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- City of Cape Town (ZA)
- Scientific Services (ZA)
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Microorganisms
- Published
- 2024-11-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12112230
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.95
Funders
- National Research Foundation
- South African Medical Research Council