Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33964781›Full record

ArticleThe Science of the total environment2021

Non-intrusive wastewater surveillance for monitoring of a residential building for COVID-19 cases.

Judith Chui Ching Wong, Joanna Tan, Ying Xian Lim, Sathish Arivalan, Hapuarachchige Chanditha Hapuarachchi, Diyar Mailepessov, Jane Griffiths, Praveena Jayarajah, Yin Xiang Setoh, Wei Ping Tien and 6 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Science of the total environment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
41citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
4.4field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

41 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
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  4. Observational
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Good Ethical and Laboratory Practices for Wastewater Surveillance.Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation · 2025
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  8. Article
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  12. Review
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  16. Structured Ethical Review for Wastewater-Based Testing.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Judith Chui Ching WongNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Joanna TanMinistry of Health, Singapore.
Ying Xian LimMinistry of Health, Singapore.
Sathish ArivalanNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Hapuarachchige Chanditha HapuarachchiNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Diyar MailepessovNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Jane GriffithsNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Praveena JayarajahNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Yin Xiang SetohNational Environment Agency, Singapore; University of Queensland, Australia.
Wei Ping TienNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Swee Ling LowNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Carmen KooNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Surya Pavan YenamandraNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Marcella KongNational Environment Agency, Singapore.
Vernon Jian Ming LeeMinistry of Health, Singapore; Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Singapore.
Lee Ching NgNational Environment Agency, Singapore; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Electronic address: Ng_Lee_Ching@nea.gov.sg.
National Environment Agency · SGMinistry of Health · SG

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Wastewater-based surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 has been used for the early warning of transmission or objective trending of the population-level disease prevalence. Here, we describe a new use-case of conducting targeted wastewater surveillance to complement clinical testing for case identification in a small community at risk of COVID-19 transmission. On 2 July 2020, a cluster of COVID-19 cases in two unrelated households residing on different floors in the same stack of an apartment building was reported in Singapore. After cases were conveyed to healthcare facilities and six healthy household contacts were quarantined in their respective apartments, wastewater surveillance was implemented for the entire residential block. SARS-CoV-2 was subsequently detected in wastewaters in an increasing frequency and concentration, despite the absence of confirmed COVID-19 cases, suggesting the presence of fresh case/s in the building. Phone interviews of six residents in quarantine revealed that no one was symptomatic (fever/respiratory illness). However, when nasopharyngeal swabs from six quarantined residents were tested by PCR tests, one was positive for SARS-CoV-2. The positive case reported episodes of diarrhea and the case's stool sample was also positive for SARS-CoV-2, explaining the SARS-CoV-2 spikes observed in wastewaters. After the case was conveyed to a healthcare facility, wastewaters continued to yield positive signals for five days, though with a decreasing intensity. This was attributed to the return of recovered cases, who had continued to shed the virus. Our findings demonstrate the utility of wastewater surveillance as a non-intrusive tool to monitor high-risk COVID-19 premises, which is able to trigger individual tests for case detection, highlighting a new use-case for wastewater testing.

Indexed as

COVID-19HumansPrevalenceSARS-CoV-2SingaporeWastewaterWastewaterCOVID-19COVID-19 case detectionNon-intrusive COVID-19 surveillanceWastewater-based epidemiology

Identifiers

PMID33964781
PMCPMC8081581
OpenAlexW3157600117

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.