GCRF_NF252 Co-surveillance of Wasterwater and Environmental Water Samples for SARS-CoV-2 and Pathogenic Viruses in South Africa and Nigeria: Incidence

关于社区中传播的SARS-CoV-2水平的信息是制定有效战略以防止COVID-19在全球进一步传播的重要组成部分。对个人进行检测既耗时又昂贵，而且目前没有覆盖很大一部分人口。对包括无症状病例在内的感染者粪便中释放的SARS-CoV-2的废水监测提供了另一种方法。它有明显的好处，避免了社区抽样偏差，并提供了一种廉价的、非侵入性的方法来确定单个样本中大型社区的感染水平。然而，这种方法不能在许多发展中地区直接实施，这些地区的废水未经任何处理就被排放到环境中。这种污染引起了人们对该疾病基于环境传播的担忧，这一点尚未得到研究。我们的项目旨在利用基于废水的流行病学和环境监测，评估COVID-19在南非和尼日利亚这两个撒哈拉以南国家的流行情况。我们将测量SARS-CoV-2 RNA浓度，以调查COVID-19在社区层面的传播情况。我们还将评估其他常见和新出现的病毒株（如肠道病毒、麻疹和流感）的发生情况，以评估封锁措施对病毒性疾病传播的影响。我们还将使用传染性测定法确定与污染环境相关的健康风险，并使用环境元病毒组学确定在每个国家流行的最常见的SARS-CoV-2变体。通过与公共卫生利益攸关方合作，我们的研究结果将有助于加强有关遏制COVID-19和实现联合国可持续发展目标3、6和11的决策。

Information about SARS-CoV-2 levels circulating in the community is an essential part of developing an effective strategy to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 globally. Testing of individuals is time consuming, costly and currently does not capture a large proportion of the population. Wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2, shed in faeces from infected individuals, including asymptomatic cases, provides an alternative approach. It has distinct benefits, obviating community sampling bias, and providing a cheap, non-invasive process to determine the level of infection in a large community within a single sample. However, this method cannot be directly implemented in many developing regions where wastewater is released into the environment without any treatment. Such pollution raises concerns about the environment-based transmission of the disease, which has not been studied. Our project aims to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in two sub-Saharan countries, South Africa and Nigeria, using wastewater-based epidemiology and environmental surveillance. We will measure SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations to investigate the spread of COVID-19 at a community level. We will also assess the occurrence of other, common and emerging virus strains (e.g. enteroviruses, measles and influenza) to evaluate the effect of lockdown measures on the transmission of viral diseases. We will also determine the health risks associated with polluted environments using infectivity assays and determine the most common SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in each country using environmental metaviromics. Working alongside public health stakeholders, our findings will allow enhanced decision making on the containment of COVID-19 and achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 6 and 11.