Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35508751›Full record

ArticleFood and environmental virology2022

Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in the Wastewater and Rivers of Tapachula, a Migratory Hub in Southern Mexico.

Eugenia Zarza, Elia Diego-García, Luz Verónica García, Ricardo Castro, Gamaliel Mejía, David Herrera, Raúl Cuevas, Ángeles Palomeque, Pavel Iša, Karina Guillén

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Food and environmental virology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 24% 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

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The potential of long-term wastewater-based surveillance to predict COVID-19 waves peak in Mexico.Water environment research : a research publication of the Water Environment Federation · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
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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

10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Eugenia Zarza *El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Elia Diego-García *El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Luz Verónica GarcíaEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Ricardo CastroEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Gamaliel MejíaEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
David HerreraEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Raúl CuevasEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Ángeles PalomequeEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Pavel IšaInstituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Av. Universidad 2001, 62210, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
Karina GuillénEl Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), Grupo Académico de Biotecnología Ambiental, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto Km 2.5, 30700, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. kguillen@ecosur.mx.ORCID 0000-0001-5199-1156
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur · MXUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México · MX

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been monitored by applying different strategies, including SARS-CoV-2 detection with clinical testing or through wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). We used the latter approach to follow SARS-CoV-2 dispersion in Tapachula city, located in Mexico's tropical southern border region. Tapachula is a dynamic entry point for people seeking asylum in Mexico or traveling to the USA. Clinical testing facilities for SARS-CoV-2 monitoring are limited in the city. A total of eighty water samples were collected from urban and suburban rivers and sewage and a wastewater treatment plant over 4 months in Tapachula. We concentrated viral particles with a PEG-8000-based method, performed RNA extraction, and detected SARS-CoV-2 particles through RT-PCR. We considered the pepper mild mottle virus as a fecal water pollution biomarker and analytical control. SARS-CoV-2 viral loads (N1 and N2 markers) were quantified and correlated with official regional statistics of COVID-19 bed occupancy and confirmed cases (r > 91%). Our results concluded that WBE proved a valuable tool for tracing and tracking the COVID-19 pandemic in tropical countries with similar water temperatures (21-29 °C). Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 through urban and suburban river water sampling would be helpful in places lacking a wastewater treatment plant or water bodies with sewage discharges.

Indexed as

COVID-19SARS-CoV-2HumansMexicoPandemicsRiversRNA, ViralSewageWastewaterWaterRNA, ViralSewageWastewaterWaterBorder regionRiver water epidemiologySARS-CoV-2 detectionTropical areasWastewater-based epidemiology

Identifiers

PMID35508751
PMCPMC9067545
OpenAlexW4229008524

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.