TY - JOUR
T1 - SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in Belgian Wastewaters
AU - Janssens, Raphael
AU - Hanoteaux, Sven
AU - Maloux, Hadrien
AU - Klamer, Sofieke
AU - Laisnez, Valeska
AU - Verhaegen, Bavo
AU - Linard, Catherine
AU - Lahousse, Lies
AU - Delputte, Peter
AU - Terwagne, Matthieu
AU - Marescaux, Jonathan
AU - Pype, Rosalie
AU - Didy, Christian
AU - Dierick, Katelijne
AU - van Hoorde, Koenraad
AU - Lesenfants, Marie
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Belgian Federal Government (grants COVID-19_SC048, COVID-19_SC063, and COVID-19_SC093). It was also supported by two public markets (MP20.051, MP20.097). E-BIOM and UNamur have contributed to the development of the wastewater indicator (CR-280). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/9/1
Y1 - 2022/9/1
N2 - Wastewater-based surveillance was conducted by the national public health authority to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the Belgian population. Over 5 million inhabitants representing 45% of the Belgian population were monitored throughout 42 wastewater treatment plants for 15 months comprising three major virus waves. During the entire period, a high correlation was observed between the daily new COVID-19 cases and the SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater corrected for rain impact and covered population size. Three alerting indicators were included in the weekly epidemiological assessment: High Circulation, Fast Increase, and Increasing Trend. These indicators were computed on normalized concentrations per individual treatment plant to allow for a comparison with a reference period as well as between analyses performed by distinct laboratories. When the indicators were not corrected for rain impact, rainy events caused an underestimation of the indicators. Despite this negative impact, the indicators permitted us to effectively monitor the evolution of the fourth virus wave and were considered complementary and valuable information to conventional epidemiological indicators in the weekly wastewater reports communicated to the National Risk Assessment Group.
AB - Wastewater-based surveillance was conducted by the national public health authority to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the Belgian population. Over 5 million inhabitants representing 45% of the Belgian population were monitored throughout 42 wastewater treatment plants for 15 months comprising three major virus waves. During the entire period, a high correlation was observed between the daily new COVID-19 cases and the SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater corrected for rain impact and covered population size. Three alerting indicators were included in the weekly epidemiological assessment: High Circulation, Fast Increase, and Increasing Trend. These indicators were computed on normalized concentrations per individual treatment plant to allow for a comparison with a reference period as well as between analyses performed by distinct laboratories. When the indicators were not corrected for rain impact, rainy events caused an underestimation of the indicators. Despite this negative impact, the indicators permitted us to effectively monitor the evolution of the fourth virus wave and were considered complementary and valuable information to conventional epidemiological indicators in the weekly wastewater reports communicated to the National Risk Assessment Group.
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - alerting indicator
KW - correlation
KW - public health authority
KW - surveillance
KW - viral load per capita
KW - viral to faecal ratio
KW - wastewater-based epidemiology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138439993&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3390/v14091950
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/v14091950
M3 - Article
C2 - 36146757
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 14
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
IS - 9
M1 - 1950
ER -