First detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater in North America: A study in Louisiana, USA

Samendra P Sherchan; Shalina Shahin; Lauren M Ward; Sarmila Tandukar; Tiong G Aw; Bradley Schmitz; Warish Ahmed; Masaaki Kitajima

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140621

First detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater in North America: A study in Louisiana, USA

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Nov 15:743:140621. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140621. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Authors

Samendra P Sherchan¹, Shalina Shahin², Lauren M Ward², Sarmila Tandukar³, Tiong G Aw², Bradley Schmitz⁴, Warish Ahmed⁵, Masaaki Kitajima⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2100, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. Electronic address: sshercha@tulane.edu.
² Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2100, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
³ Interdisciplinary Center for River Basin Environment, University of Yamanashi, 4-3-11 Takeda, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8511, Japan.
⁴ Loudoun Water, 44865 Loudoun Water Way, Ashburn, VA 20147, USA.
⁵ CSIRO Land and Water, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
⁶ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 13 West 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.

Abstract

We investigated the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in wastewater samples in southern Louisiana, USA. Untreated and treated wastewater samples were collected on five occasions over a four-month period from January to April 2020. The wastewater samples were concentrated via ultrafiltration (Method A), and an adsorption-elution method using electronegative membranes (Method B). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 2 out of 15 wastewater samples using two reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays (CDC N1 and N2). None of the secondary treated and final effluent samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater in North America, including the USA. However, concentration methods and RT-qPCR assays need to be refined and validated to increase the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in wastewater.

Keywords: COVID-19; RT-qPCR; SARS-CoV-2; Surveillance; Wastewater; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections*
Humans
Louisiana
North America
Pandemics*
Pneumonia, Viral*
RNA*
SARS-CoV-2
Wastewater*

Substances

Waste Water
RNA

Grants and funding

R21 AI157434/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States