Airplane wastewater as a gateway for pathogen surveillance

Area of Science:

• Environmental microbiology
• Virology
• Public health surveillance

Background:

• Air travel facilitates the global spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
• International traveler surveillance is crucial for detecting emerging viruses, especially with relaxed testing policies.
• Assessing airplane wastewater surveillance for monitoring pathogens entering Belgium was the study's aim.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of using wastewater from commercial flights for pathogen surveillance.
• To detect severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and other infectious agents in international travelers.
• To enhance traveler-based surveillance strategies for emerging infectious diseases.

Main Methods:

• Collected 32 wastewater samples from flights arriving at Brussels Airport from January to March 2023.
• Utilized quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) panels and hybrid-capture metagenomic sequencing.
• Targeted over fifteen thousand strains of known human and animal viruses for comprehensive detection.

Main Results:

• Nineteen of 32 samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
• Identified other pathogens including enterovirus, adenovirus, norovirus, and clinically relevant bacteria.
• Determined SARS-CoV-2 variants (BA4/BA5, BA4.6/BF7, XBB) and recovered complete viral genomes using hybrid-capture sequencing.

Conclusions:

• Airplane wastewater surveillance is a feasible method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.
• This approach provides valuable data from regions with limited genomic surveillance.
• Hybrid-capture sequencing enables broad detection of diverse viruses, enhancing traveler-based surveillance.