A simple to use, paper-based test for the novel coronavirus in wastewater could help identify the infection in communities, including those with people who carry the virus but show no symptoms.
In January 2020, doctors treating the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States identified the SARS-CoV-2 virus not only in nasal and oral swabs but also in stool samples.
This has led scientists in the U.K. and China to propose that wastewater in sewer systems could provide early indications of the spread of the virus among communities.
Wastewater-based epidemiology is already widely used in the U.S. and Europe to gauge the extent of illicit drug use.
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It can also provide data about dietary factors, such as sugar intake and alcohol consumption, as well as exposure to environmental toxins.
Zhugen Yang, Ph.D., a lecturer in sensor technology at Cranfield University’s Water Science Institute, in the U.K., and a team of scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Guiyang, describe the proposed test in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
It is possible for people carrying the new coronavirus to experience few or no symptoms. In this case, doctors consider them to be “asymptomatic.” The team of researchers explain that this circumstance can be dangerous:
“Without the ability to screen these asymptomatic patients quickly and effectively, these unsuspecting carriers have the potential to increase the risk of disease transmission if no early effective quarantine measures are implemented.”
Earlier, working with colleagues at the University of Glasgow, in the U.K., and Uganda’s Ministry of Health, Yang developed a paper-