{"id":110270,"date":"2020-12-31T17:47:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T00:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110270"},"modified":"2020-12-31T17:47:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T00:47:49","slug":"sewage-poses-potential-covid-19-transmission-risk-experts-warn-coronaviruses-can-remain-viable-in-sewage-for-up-to-14-days-depending-on-the-environmental-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/12\/31\/sewage-poses-potential-covid-19-transmission-risk-experts-warn-coronaviruses-can-remain-viable-in-sewage-for-up-to-14-days-depending-on-the-environmental-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sewage poses potential COVID-19 transmission risk, experts warn, coronaviruses can remain viable in sewage for up to 14 days, depending on the environmental conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Science Daily<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The response to the global pandemic has focused upon preventing\nperson-to-person transmission, however, experts now believe the virus could\nalso be spread in wastewater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, it emerged that analysis of sewage in the UK\ncould provide important data on the spread of COVID-19. However, Professor\nRichard Quilliam’s new paper — published May 6 — now warns that the sewerage\nsystem itself could pose a transmission risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing in the journal Environment International<\/em>, Professor\nQuilliam and colleagues from Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences are calling\nfor “an investment of resources” to investigate their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Quilliam — who is currently leading a \u00a31.85 million\nstudy into the transport of bacteria and viruses in marine environments —\nsaid: “We know that COVID-19 is spread through droplets from coughs and\nsneezes, or via objects or materials that carry infection. However, it has\nrecently been confirmed that the virus can also be found in human faeces — up\nto 33 days after the patient has tested negative for the respiratory symptoms\nof COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is not yet known whether the virus can be transmitted\nvia the faecal-oral route, however, we know that viral shedding from the\ndigestive system can last longer than shedding from the respiratory tract.\nTherefore, this could be an important — but as yet unquantified — pathway for\nincreased exposure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors of the peer-reviewed paper presented the example of\nthe severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-2003, when\nSARS-CoV-1 — closely linked to the COVID-19 virus strain (SARS-CoV-2) — was\ndetected in sewage discharged by two hospitals in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Quilliam highlights that, as most COVID-19 patients\nare asymptomatic or experience just mild symptoms and remain at home — not in\nhospitals, there is significant risk of “widespread” distribution\nthrough sewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Quilliam authored the paper alongside Professor\nManfred Weidmann, Dr Vanessa Moresco, Heather Purshouse, Dr Zoe O’Hara, and Dr\nDavid Oliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biologists said a lack of testing “makes it\ndifficult” to predict the scale of the potential spread and the public\nhealth implications of the virus arriving at wastewater treatment works, whilst\nthe implications of consequent discharge into the wider environment are only\njust beginning to be investigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They added that the structural makeup of COVID-19 —\nspecifically its lipid envelope covering — suggests that it will behave\ndifferently in aqueous environments, compared to other viruses typically found\nin the intestine. There is currently limited information on the environmental\npersistence of COVID-19, but other coronaviruses can remain viable in sewage\nfor up to 14 days, depending on the environmental conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the risk of human exposure, the authors said: “The\ntransport of coronaviruses in water could increase the potential for the virus\nto become aerosolised, particularly during the pumping of wastewater through\nsewerage systems, at the wastewater treatment works, and during its discharge\nand the subsequent transport through the catchment drainage network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Atmospheric loading of coronaviruses in water droplets\nfrom wastewater is poorly understood but could provide a more direct\nrespiratory route for human exposure, particularly at sewage pumping stations,\nwastewater treatment works and near waterways that are receiving\nwastewater.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk could be further increased in parts of the world with high\nlevels of open defecation, or where safely managed sanitation systems are limited\nand waterways are used as both open sewers and sources of water for domestic\npurposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Such settings are commonly accompanied by poorly resourced\nand fragile healthcare systems, thus amplifying both exposure risk and\npotential mortality,” the authors said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, all published data on faecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2\nderive from hospitalised patients — with limited information available on mild\nand asymptomatic cases. The paper concludes: “In the immediate future,\nthere needs to be an investment of resources to improve our understanding of\nthe risks associated with faecal transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and whether this\nrespiratory virus can be disseminated by enteric transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Understanding the risk of spread via the faecal-oral\nroute, while still at a fairly early stage of the pandemic, will allow more\nevidence-based information about viral transmission to be shared with the\npublic. Furthermore, the risks associated with sewage loading during the\nremainder of the COVID-19 outbreak need to be rapidly quantified to allow\nwastewater managers to act quickly and put in place control measures to\ndecrease human exposure to this potentially infectious material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At a time when the world is so focused on the respiratory\npathways of a respiratory virus, understanding the opportunities for SARS-CoV-2\nto be spread by the faecal-oral route must not be neglected.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2020\/05\/200506133603.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy Science Daily The response to the global pandemic has focused upon preventing person-to-person transmission, however, experts now believe the virus could also be spread in wastewater. Earlier this week, it emerged that analysis of sewage in the UK could provide important data on the spread of COVID-19. However, Professor Richard Quilliam’s new paper — […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category--19-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}