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Evaluation of Two Methods to Concentrate SARS-CoV-2 from Untreated Wastewater
Roger Dumke1, Magali de la Cruz Barron2,3, Reinhard Oertel4
1Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
Use of wastewater-based epidemiology as a tool to record and manage the course of SARS-CoV-2 infections in human populations requires information about the efficiency of methods to concentrate the virus from wastewater. In the present study, we spiked untreated wastewater with quantified SARS-CoV-2 positive clinical material and enriched the virus by polyethylene glycol precipitation and ultrafiltration with Vivaspin 10 kDa MWCO columns. SARS-CoV-2 was detected and quantified by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (E- and S-gene) and droplet digital PCR. The concentration of virus with precipitation resulted in mean recoveries between 59.4% and 63.7% whereas rates from 33.0% to 42.6% after ultrafiltration of samples were demonstrated. The results suggest that the use of both methods allows an effective and practicable enrichment of SARS-CoV-2 from raw wastewater.
