TITLE:
Controlling COVID-19 Pandemic through Wastewater Monitoring
AUTHORS:
Djamel Ghernaout, Badia Ghernaout
KEYWORDS:
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE), Wastewater Treatment, Pathogens, Viruses
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.7 No.5,
May
26,
2020
ABSTRACT: The continuing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) produced via severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Even if the main transmission pathways of SARS-CoV-2 are inhalation from person-to-person and aerosol/droplet transmission, it is proved that the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) could occur in wastewater, proposing the necessity to better comprehend wastewater as possible sources of epidemiological data and human health risks. This review focuses on the fate and transport of enteric pathogens in nature. A special interest is accorded to viruses and COVID-19. Further, this work discusses the present facts concerning the proof for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and related CoVs in wastewater, controlling wastewater for comprehending COVID-19, and endurance and demobilization of CoVs and enveloped surrogate viruses in water and wastewater matrices. There has been growing evidence of gastrointestinal symptoms provoked by SARS-CoV-2 contagions and the occurrence of viral RNA not only in feces of COVID-19 patients but in wastewater. One of the main dares in SARS-CoV-2 detection/quantification in wastewater samples is the shortage of an optimized and standardized protocol. The present comprehension of the possible contribution of wastewater in SARS-CoV-2 transmission is considerably restricted by knowledge gaps in its presence, endurance, and elimination in wastewater. There is a pressing necessity for additional study to define strategies for wastewater observation and comprehend the consequences of the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.