The Missouri departments of Natural Resources and Health and Senior Services are teaming up with researchers from the University of Missouri to use samples of wastewater from across the state to help determine how far COVID-19 has spread.
"This sewage testing can provide additional, population-level information about the presence and amount of virus in a community that is not captured by testing patients," said Jonathan Garoutte, administrator of DHSS's Section for Environmental Public Health.
"People can be infected for up to 14 days before showing any symptoms, and they may not get tested. This testing can provide early awareness for local public health agencies and help direct testing and resources that protect public health," Garoutte added in a DHSS news release.
Sewage is not a significant way the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads; the disease is caused by a respiratory virus that spreads via droplets people cough up or sneeze and that other people inhale or otherwise unknowingly allow into their bodies by touching their face once the droplets get onto their hands. That's why maintaining distance between people, wearing masks and handwashing is important.
The water that leaves people's bathrooms can contain virus particles - shed in human feces - and researchers plan to look for genetic markers in raw sewage that indicate the presence of COVID-19.
MU professors Marc Johnson and Chung-Ho Lin and research scientist Hsin-Yeh Hsieh are using a laboratory at the university to analyze raw wastewater samples from nine pilot wastewater treatment facilities, with plans to start analyzing samples from 80 facilities per week next month.
"Our laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instruments and methods," said Lin, "with the ability to detect and quantify down to low concentrations of the virus. It is certainly cutting-edge research directed at protecting the health and well-being of Missourians."
"Wastewater surveillance is a cost-effective, proactive effort to inform public health strategy and help mitigate disease spread," said Chris Wieberg, director of DNR's Water Protection Program. "We've had a tremendous interest and response from our partners in the wastewater treatment sector."
The project is being funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant through DHSS.
Wastewater sampling for disease surveillance is not a new technique and has been used to track polio and norovirus. The idea for the COVID-19 project came from studies in the United States, the Netherlands and Italy that found "a direct correlation between the amount of viral material in sewage and the number of reported cases within a given 'sewershed,' or the area that drains into a community's wastewater collection system," according to DHSS' news release.
It's hoped that the data generated from the sewage testing in Missouri will be useful for understanding the distribution of the virus that causes COVID-19, and for "monitoring long-term trends for indication of reemergence to inform mitigation efforts."