Collaborative Research: RAPID: Wastewater Informed Epidemiological Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2

全球COVID-19大流行对人类健康和经济造成了相当大的影响，这给研究界带来了一系列独特的挑战，必须真实的解决。对任何流行病的管理至关重要的是准确估计社区内有多少人受到感染。引起COVID-19的病毒SARS-CoV-2通过感染者的粪便排出，最终进入污水处理厂。人类排泄物中存在SARS-CoV-2，这为潜在监测废水中的SARS-CoV-2提供了机会，以估计社区中的感染人数，并为未来的SARS-CoV-2爆发提供“早期预警系统”。这项研究的目标是开发监测废水中SARS-CoV-2的方法，并将这些测量与流行病学模型联系起来。此外，该项目小组将协调全球SARS-CoV-2废水监测工作。如果成功，这项研究可能会导致其他类似的监测工作，以其他病毒爆发和保护国家的健康。 SARS-CoV-2（即，2019-nCoV）被确定为呼吸道疾病爆发的原因，该疾病现已成为全球大流行病，对医疗服务和商业造成重大破坏。关于这种病毒的流行情况仍然存在很大的不确定性。这些信息对于提供控制建议和确定病死率至关重要。最近在粪便中检测到SARS-CoV-2，提出了使用基于废水的流行病学方法估计SARS-CoV-2社区流行率的可能性。在这种方法中，SARS-CoV-2的分子定量将与流行病学数据相结合，以模拟爆发动态，并估计该病毒在社区中随时间的总体流行率。这些数据将被纳入使用公共卫生监测数据的流行病学模型。来自废水的数据可以比流行病学数据提供更精细的空间尺度上的流行病学估计数，并可以提供在大流行病第一波之后继续社区传播的迹象。这种病毒有可能像流感和其他冠状病毒一样成为季节性传播的地方病病原体，这将使这种类型的分析越来越有信息量。这项研究的技术发展包括改进的样本处理方法、分子定量方法、将所得数据整合到流行病学模型中，以及与国内和国际合作者协调以标准化方法。在目前的疫情爆发之后，利用废水监测SARS-CoV-2具有重大的科学意义。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The global COVID-19 pandemic causing considerable human health and economic impacts presents the research community with a unique set of challenges that must be addressed in real time. Critical to managing any pandemic is the accurate estimation of how many people are infected within communities. SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is excreted in the stool of infected individuals, eventually ending up in the wastewater treatment plant. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 in human waste presents the opportunity to potentially monitor wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 to estimate the number of infections in the community and provide an ‘early warning system’ for future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. The goal of this research is to develop methods to monitor for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and to connect these measurements to epidemiology models. In addition, the project team will coordinate wastewater monitoring efforts for SARS-CoV-2 globally. If successful, this research could lead to other similar monitoring efforts for other viral outbreaks and protect the health of the Nation. SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., 2019-nCoV) is identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness that is now a global pandemic causing significant disruption to medical services and commerce. Significant uncertainties about the prevalence of this virus remain. This information which is vital to inform control recommendations and determine the case fatality rate. The recent detection of SARS-CoV-2 in stool raises the possibility of using wastewater-based epidemiological approaches to estimate the community prevalence of SARS-CoV-2. In this approach, molecular quantification of SARS-CoV-2 will be combined with epidemiological data to model outbreak dynamics and estimate the overall prevalence of the virus in the community over time. These data will be integrated into epidemiological models using data from public health surveillance. Data from wastewater could inform epidemiological estimates on finer spatial scales than epidemiological data and could provide indications of continued community transmission following the initial wave of the pandemic. The potential for this virus to become a seasonally transmitted endemic pathogen like influenza and other coronaviruses would make this type of analysis increasingly informative. Technical developments resulting from this research include improved sample handling methods, molecular quantification approaches, integration of the resulting data into epidemiological models, as well as coordination with domestic and international collaborators to standardize methodology. There is significant scientific interest in using wastewater to monitor for SARS-CoV-2 beyond the current outbreak. This research will inform such efforts and help respond to future outbreaks.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.