PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Monitoring occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in school populations: A wastewater-based approach.

  • Victor Castro-Gutierrez,
  • Francis Hassard,
  • Milan Vu,
  • Rodrigo Leitao,
  • Beata Burczynska,
  • Dirk Wildeboer,
  • Isobel Stanton,
  • Shadi Rahimzadeh,
  • Gianluca Baio,
  • Hemda Garelick,
  • Jan Hofman,
  • Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern,
  • Rachel Kwiatkowska,
  • Azeem Majeed,
  • Sally Priest,
  • Jasmine Grimsley,
  • Lian Lundy,
  • Andrew C Singer,
  • Mariachiara Di Cesare

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270168
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 6
p. e0270168

Abstract

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Clinical testing of children in schools is challenging, with economic implications limiting its frequent use as a monitoring tool of the risks assumed by children and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, a wastewater-based epidemiology approach has been used to monitor 16 schools (10 primary, 5 secondary and 1 post-16 and further education) in England. A total of 296 samples over 9 weeks have been analysed for N1 and E genes using qPCR methods. Of the samples returned, 47.3% were positive for one or both genes with a detection frequency in line with the respective local community. WBE offers a low cost, non-invasive approach for supplementing clinical testing and can provide longitudinal insights that are impractical with traditional clinical testing.