Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa

Noluxabiso Mangwana; Edward Archer; Christo J. F. Muller; Wolfgang Preiser; Gideon Wolfaardt; Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern; Alno Carstens; Ludwig Brocker; Candice Webster; David McCarthy; Renee Street; Angela Mathee; Johan Louw; Mongezi Mdhluli; Rabia Johnson

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa

Noluxabiso Mangwana, Edward Archer, Christo J. F. Muller, Wolfgang Preiser, Gideon Wolfaardt, Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Alno Carstens, Ludwig Brocker, Candice Webster, David McCarthy, Renee Street, Angela Mathee, Johan Louw, Mongezi Mdhluli, Rabia Johnson^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	158028
Pages (from-to)	1-11
Number of pages	11
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	851
Issue number	Part 1
Early online date	13 Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028
Publication status	Published - 10 Dec 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

COVID-19
Institution
Near-source WBE
Passive sampling
SARS-CoV-2
Student campus residences
Wastewater
Wastewater-based epidemiology

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 1.17 MBLicence: CC BY

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Mangwana, N., Archer, E., Muller, C. J. F., Preiser, W., Wolfaardt, G., Kasprzyk-Hordern, B., Carstens, A., Brocker, L., Webster, C., McCarthy, D., Street, R., Mathee, A., Louw, J., Mdhluli, M., & Johnson, R. (2022). Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa. Science of the Total Environment, 851(Part 1), 1-11. Article 158028. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

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title = "Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa",

abstract = "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{\textregistered} RT-qPCR genotyping assay.",

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note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher. ",

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month = dec,

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028",

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Mangwana, N, Archer, E, Muller, CJF, Preiser, W, Wolfaardt, G, Kasprzyk-Hordern, B, Carstens, A, Brocker, L, Webster, C, McCarthy, D, Street, R, Mathee, A, Louw, J, Mdhluli, M & Johnson, R 2022, 'Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 851, no. Part 1, 158028, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

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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 - Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2022/12/10

Y1 - 2022/12/10

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.

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KW - Institution

KW - Near-source WBE

KW - Passive sampling

KW - SARS-CoV-2

KW - Student campus residences

KW - Wastewater

KW - Wastewater-based epidemiology

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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158028

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C2 - 35973539

AN - SCOPUS:85136536969

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 851

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JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

IS - Part 1

M1 - 158028

ER -

Sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at student campus residences in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

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Keywords

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