Abstract
Wastewater-Based Epidemiology is a tool to face and mitigate COVID-19 outbreaks by evaluating conditions in a specific community. This study aimed to analyze the microbiome profiles using nanopore technology for full-length 16S rRNA sequencing in wastewater samples collected from a penitentiary (P), a residential care home (RCH), and a quarantine or health care facilities (HCF). During the study, the wastewater samples from the RCH and the P were negative for SARS-CoV-2 based on qPCRs, except during the fourth week when was detected. Unexpectedly, the wastewater microbiome from RCH and P prior to week four was correlated with the samples collected from the HCF, suggesting a core bacterial community is expelled from the digest tract of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2. The microbiota of wastewater sample positives for SARS-CoV-2 was strongly associated with enteric bacteria previously reported in patients with risk factors for COVID-19. We provide novel evidence that the wastewater microbiome associated with gastrointestinal manifestations appears to precede the SARS-CoV-2 detection in sewage. This finding suggests that the wastewaters microbiome can be applied as an indicator of community-wide SARS-CoV-2 surveillance.
Highlights
The SARS-CoV-2 is a new member of the Coronaviridae family and the etiologic of COVID-19, o cially declared a pandemic by the World Organization of the Health in January 2020
Samples obtained from residential care home (RCH), with middle-isolation level and high-risk factor, registered an outbreak of COVID-19 from July 10th to July 21st
This nding strongly suggests that the virus alters the microbiome of infected individuals to risk factors of severe COVID-1919
Summary
The SARS-CoV-2 is a new member of the Coronaviridae family and the etiologic of COVID-19, o cially declared a pandemic by the World Organization of the Health in January 2020. The S protein gives the virus its distinctive crown of spikes and is responsible for binding to angiotensinconverting enzyme receptor 2 (ACE2), which allows the virus to enter the host cell[5,6]. These receptors are present in various human cell types, with particular abundance in respiratory and gastrointestinal epithelial cells[7]. Respiratory symptoms are the most frequently described in patients with COVID-19, several studies have shown that the gastrointestinal tract can be affected by SARS-CoV-2. A meta-analysis found that 15% of patients had gastrointestinal symptoms and that about 10% of patients had gastrointestinal symptoms but no respiratory symptoms[10,11]
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