DESARROLLO DE UN MÉTODO SIMPLE Y RÁPIDO DE CONCENTRACIÓN VIRAL PARA LA DETECCIÓN DE SARS-COV-2 EN LÍQUIDOS CLOACALES

DIANA P. WEHRENDT; MARIANA G. MASSÓ; CLAUDIA V. VARGAS; ADRIÁN GONZÁLEZ MACHUCA; JOSEFINA CAMPOS; DAMIÁN COSTAMAGNA; LUIS BRUZZONE; DANIEL CISTERNA; ELSA BAUMEISTER;; DANIELA CENTRÓN; MARÍA PAULA QUIROGA; LEONARDO ERIJMAN

Congreso; XXXVII CONGRESO INTERAMERICANO VIRTUAL DE INGENIERÍA SANITARIA Y AMBIENTAL; 2021

AIDIS ARGENTINA

It has been shown that SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater samples can be very useful to provide information about the prevalence within a community, the emergence of new outbreaks and the efficacy of the vaccination campaign. Viral detection can be performed in the same way as for clinical samples, although wastewater samples have to be concentrated first. Different concentration methods were reported in the last time, but most of them are laborious and require specific equipment. Our aim was to develop a simple viral concentration protocol that can also be performed in laboratories with minimal equipment. Wastewater samples were taken weekly at four different treatment plants and heat-inactivated. Polialuminium-chloride was added at a final dilution 1:20000 and samples were centrifuged at low speed. The resultant pellet was resuspended in a saline solution for further RNA purification and RT-qPCR for viral detection.Our methodology takes XX minutes to complete the protocol and SARS-CoV-2 could be detected in all samples in correlation with Covid-19 incidence of the respective community. The concentrated samples could also be stored at 4oC for at least one week, which is important if they have to be sent to a clinical testing center for viral detection. In conclusion, our SARS-CoV-2 concentration method was very simple and fast, did not require expensive equipment and was sensitive enough to allow detection of viral RNA.