Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36191696›Full record

ArticleThe Science of the total environment2023

Evaluating the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 from sewage pollution.

E Ransome, F Hobbs, S Jones, C M Coleman, N D Harris, G Woodward, T Bell, J Trew, S Kolarević, M Kračun-Kolarević and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Science of the total environment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
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

11 authors.

E RansomeGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. Electronic address: e.ransome@imperial.ac.uk.
F HobbsGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
S JonesGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
C M ColemanWolfson Centre for Global Virus Research, Department of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
N D HarrisGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
G WoodwardGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
T BellGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
J TrewGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.
S KolarevićUniversity of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Department of Hydroecology and Water Protection, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
M Kračun-KolarevićUniversity of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", National Institute of Republic of Serbia, Department of Hydroecology and Water Protection, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
V SavolainenGeorgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The presence of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated sewage has been confirmed in many countries but its incidence and infection risk in contaminated waters is poorly understood. The River Thames in the UK receives untreated sewage from 57 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), with many discharging dozens of times per year. This study investigated if such discharges provide a pathway for environmental transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Samples of wastewater, surface water, and sediment collected close to six CSOs on the River Thames were assayed over eight months for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and infectious virus. Bivalves were also sampled as an indicator species of viral bioaccumulation. Sediment and water samples from the Danube and Sava rivers in Serbia, where raw sewage is also discharged in high volumes, were assayed as a positive control. No evidence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or infectious virus was found in UK samples, in contrast to RNA positive samples from Serbia. Furthermore, this study shows that infectious SARS-CoV-2 inoculum is stable in Thames water and sediment for <3 days, while SARS-CoV-2 RNA is detectable for at least seven days. This indicates that dilution of wastewater likely limits environmental transmission, and that detection of viral RNA alone is not an indication of pathogen spillover.

Indexed as

COVID-19SewageEnvironmental MonitoringHumansRNA, ViralSARS-CoV-2WastewaterWaterRNA, ViralSewageWastewaterWaterCombined sewer overflowsFaecal pollutionLondonSARS-CoV-2Untreated wastewater

Identifiers

PMID36191696
PMCPMC9525188

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.