Qualitative and quantitative analysis of wastewater viral contamination as a control element for the circulation of enteric viruses in the Republic of Belarus

Wastewater epidemiology is a new field of research that has great potential in the system of enteric virus surveillance. The purpose of the presented study was to analyze the results of wastewater monitoring of enteric viruses in 2020– 2021 in the Republic of Belarus. Detection and quantification of nucleic acids of rotaviruses A, noroviruses 1 and 2, enteroviruses and adenoviruses F were carried out using a quantitative real time RT-PCR followed by nucleic acid sequence genotyping. In 2020–2021, 487 (46.9 %) of 1038 wastewater samples contained nucleic acid of one or more viruses. The results indicated that there was a decrease in the circulating activity of the most enteric viruses in 2021 compared to 2020, likely due to stricter hygiene practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Predominance of adenoviruses F in wastewater could be associated with their wide asymptomatic spread, on the one hand, and with greater resistance of pathogen DNA in the external environment, on the other. The quantitative analysis showed that the highest viral nucleic acid concentrations were found in hospital wastewater samples. According to the results of molecular typing, wastewater contained norovirus GII.4 [P16], adenovirus type 41, Coxsackievirus B3, B5 and Echovirus 13, the most common genotypes of enteric viruses in human population.  

Quantitative analysis and genotyping of nucleic acids of viruses from wastewater can be a source of valuable information for tracking their circulation in the human population to assess the current epidemiological situation and to predict its development in the short term.

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