TY - JOUR
T1 - Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa
AU - Mangwana, Noluxabiso
AU - Archer, Edward
AU - Muller, Christo J. F.
AU - Preiser, Wolfgang
AU - Wolfaardt, Gideon
AU - Kasprzyk-Hordern, Barbara
AU - Carstens, Alno
AU - Brocker, Ludwig
AU - Webster, Candice
AU - McCarthy, David
AU - Street, Renee
AU - Mathee, Angela
AU - Louw, Johan
AU - Mdhluli, Mongezi
AU - Johnson, Rabia
N1 - Funding Information:
The research group would like to thank the UKRI GCRF/Newton Fund Agile Response call to address COVID-19 funding scheme, the Stellenbosch University Vice Rector special COVID-19 Fund for financial assistance. The work reported herein was made possible through funding by the South African Medical Research Council through its Division of Research Capacity Development under the Internship Scholarship Programme from funding received from the South African National Treasury. The content hereof is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the SAMRC or the funders. Special thank you to all the Facility Management staff from Stellenbosch University for assistance with the selection of sampling locations and student residence information. Special thank you to the sampling team at Stellenbosch University (Brighton Mutepfe, Tafadzwa Nyakubaya, Nothukela Mpazi, Ulrich van Zyl) and processing team at the SAMRC Wastewater Surveillance & Research Programme (Anri Kotze, Clare Kimani, Kholofelo Malemela and Funanani Mashau) that made all the work possible. We would like to acknowledge the Western Cape Government for providing the daily clinical case data.
Funding Information:
The research group would like to thank the UKRI GCRF / Newton Fund Agile Response call to address COVID-19 funding scheme, the Stellenbosch University Vice Rector special COVID-19 Fund for financial assistance. The work reported herein was made possible through funding by the South African Medical Research Council through its Division of Research Capacity Development under the Internship Scholarship Programme from funding received from the South African National Treasury. The content hereof is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the SAMRC or the funders. Special thank you to all the Facility Management staff from Stellenbosch University for assistance with the selection of sampling locations and student residence information. Special thank you to the sampling team at Stellenbosch University (Brighton Mutepfe, Tafadzwa Nyakubaya, Nothukela Mpazi, Ulrich van Zyl) and processing team at the SAMRC Wastewater Surveillance & Research Programme (Anri Kotze, Clare Kimani, Kholofelo Malemela and Funanani Mashau) that made all the work possible. We would like to acknowledge the Western Cape Government for providing the daily clinical case data.
PY - 2022/8/13
Y1 - 2022/8/13
N2 - The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnostic capacity is limited in defined communities, posing a challenge in tracking and tracing new infections. Monitoring student residences, which are considered infection hotspots, with targeted wastewater surveillance is crucial. This study evaluated the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 targeted wastewater surveillance for outbreak mitigation at Stellenbosch University's student residences in South Africa. Using torpedo-style passive sampling devices, wastewater samples were collected biweekly from manholes at twelve Stellenbosch University Tygerberg (SUT) campus and Stellenbosch University-Main (SUM) campus student residences. The surveillance led to an early warning detection of SARS-CoV-2 presence on campus, followed by an informed management strategy leading to restriction of student activities on campus and a delay in the onset of the third wave that was experienced throughout the country. Moreover, the study highlighted the extent of possible infections at defined locations even when a low number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were reported. The study also tracked the surge of the Delta and Omicron variants in the student residences using the Thermo Fisher TaqMan® RT-qPCR genotyping assay.
AB - The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnostic capacity is limited in defined communities, posing a challenge in tracking and tracing new infections. Monitoring student residences, which are considered infection hotspots, with targeted wastewater surveillance is crucial. This study evaluated the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 targeted wastewater surveillance for outbreak mitigation at Stellenbosch University's student residences in South Africa. Using torpedo-style passive sampling devices, wastewater samples were collected biweekly from manholes at twelve Stellenbosch University Tygerberg (SUT) campus and Stellenbosch University-Main (SUM) campus student residences. The surveillance led to an early warning detection of SARS-CoV-2 presence on campus, followed by an informed management strategy leading to restriction of student activities on campus and a delay in the onset of the third wave that was experienced throughout the country. Moreover, the study highlighted the extent of possible infections at defined locations even when a low number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were reported. The study also tracked the surge of the Delta and Omicron variants in the student residences using the Thermo Fisher TaqMan® RT-qPCR genotyping assay.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Institution
KW - Near-source WBE
KW - Passive sampling
KW - SARS-CoV-2
KW - Student campus residences
KW - Wastewater
KW - Wastewater-based epidemiology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136536969&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028
M3 - Article
C2 - 35973539
AN - SCOPUS:85136536969
VL - 851
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
IS - Part 1
M1 - 158028
ER -