Epidemiological surveilllance of Sars-Cov-2 ocurrence in wastewater from Gran San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.

DARPINO, M.C.; BELLOMIO, A.; SAAVEDRA, L.; SINELLI, P.E.; SENDIN, L.N.; ADLER , C.; HEBERT, E.M.; MIGLIAVACCA, J.; GERSTENFELD , S.; CHAHLA, R.; ALBARRACIN, V.H.

Virtual

Congreso; LXVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC); 2021

The ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a public healthemergency of international concern. SARS-CoV-2 is a member of the Coronaviridaefamily, consisting of a group of enveloped viruses with single-stranded RNA genomes which cause diseases ranging from common colds to acute respiratorydistress syndrome. Although the main transmission routes for SARS-CoV-2 are the inhalation of aerosols/droplets and person-to-person contact, current evidence available indicates that the viral RNA is present in wastewater, suggesting theneed to better understand this route as a potential source of epidemiological data and human health risks. To this aim, 32 sewage samples were collected between May and June 2020 from wastewater in the cities of San Miguel deTucumán and Yerba Buena, Argentina. Before viral concentration, composite samples were heat inactivated to increase handling safety. Next, waste waters amples (200 ml) were mixed with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and NaCl. Mixtures were left to stand overnight at 4 °C. Subsequently, they were centrifuged, and pellets were resuspended in TRIZOL. The extraction of viral RNA was executed using thePURO VIRUS KIT (Productos BIO-Lógicos). A real-time RT-qPCR assay targeting the N gene, using SARSCoV- 2 specific primer and probes set, was performed. RT-qPCRmix was prepared using qScript XLT 1-Step RT-PCR (Quantabio) in a one-stepsystem. While 6 out of 16 samples collected in May were positive, 8 out of 16from June turned out positive. Interestingly, the increase in positive samplescorrelates with the increase in the number of human cases detected, further supporting wastewater-based epidemiology as a sensitive tool to study spatialand temporal trends of virus circulation in the population