Monitoring occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in school populations: A wastewater-based approach

Castro-Gutierrez, Victor, Hassard, Francis, Vu, Milan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6851-7634, Leitao, Rodrigo, Burczynska, Beata ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4101-8525, Wildeboer, Dirk ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1298-7511, Stanton, Isobel, Rahimzadeh, Shadi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0396-0803, Baio, Gianluca, Garelick, Hemda ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4568-2300, Hofman, Jan, Kasprzyk-Hordern, Barbara, Kwiatkowska, Rachel, Majeed, Azeem, Priest, Sally J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2304-1502, Grimsley, Jasmine, Lundy, Lian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1155-4132, Singer, Andrew C. and Di Cesare, Mariachiara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3934-3364 (2022) Monitoring occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in school populations: A wastewater-based approach. PLoS One, 17 (6) , e0270168. ISSN 1932-6203 [Article] (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270168)

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Abstract

Clinical testing of children in schools is challenging, with economic implications limiting its frequent use as a monitoring tool of the risks assumed by children and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, a wastewater-based epidemiology approach has been used to monitor 16 schools (10 primary, 5 secondary and 1 post-16 and further education) in England. A total of 296 samples over 9 weeks have been analysed for N1 and E genes using qPCR methods. Of the samples returned, 47.3% were positive for one or both genes with a detection frequency in line with the respective local community. WBE offers a low cost, non-invasive approach for supplementing clinical testing and can provide longitudinal insights that are impractical with traditional clinical testing.

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