Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39212274›Full record

ArticleJournal of water and health2024

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in wastewater in Tunisia.

Ines Othman, Maxime Bisseux, Amna Helmi, Rawand Hamdi, Imen Nahdi, Ichrak Slama, Maha Mastouri, Jean Luc Bailly, Mahjoub Aouni

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of water and health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–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, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Environmental surveillance of pathogens in Africa.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026
    Review
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

9 authors.

Ines OthmanFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99-ES27, Monastir, Tunisia E-mail: ines_othman@yahoo.fr.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4668-8835
Maxime BisseuxCHU Clermont-Ferrand, 3IHP, Virology Laboratory, National Reference Centre for Enteroviruses and Parechoviruses-Associated Laboratory, F-63003 Clermont-Ferrand, France; Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS 6023-LMGE, EPIE, F-63001 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Amna HelmiDirectorate of Milieu Hygiene and Environmental Protection at the Health Ministry, Tunis, Tunisia.
Rawand HamdiFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99-ES27, Monastir, Tunisia.
Imen NahdiAfrican Biotechnology Society - ABS Advanced, Tunis, Tunisia.
Ichrak SlamaFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99-ES27, Monastir, Tunisia.
Maha MastouriFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99-ES27, Monastir, Tunisia; Laboratory of Microbiology, Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia.
Jean Luc BaillyCHU Clermont-Ferrand, 3IHP, Virology Laboratory, National Reference Centre for Enteroviruses and Parechoviruses-Associated Laboratory, F-63003 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Mahjoub AouniFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99-ES27, Monastir, Tunisia.

Funding

Swiss Agency for Development and CooperationUnited Nations Development Programme in Tunisia
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Wastewater-based genomic surveillance can improve community prevalence estimates and identify emerging variants of pathogens. Wastewater influents and treated effluents from six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tunisia were analyzed between December 2021 and July 2022. Wastewater samples were analyzed with reverse transcription solid digital PCR (RT-sdPCR) and whole-genome sequencing to determine the amount of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and assign SARS-CoV-2 lineages. The virus variants detected in wastewater samples were compared with COVID-19 prevalence data. The quantitative results in wastewater influents revealed that viral RNA concentrations at the treatment plants corroborate with locally reported clinical cases and show an increase before the increment of clinically diagnosed new COVID-19 cases between April and July 2022. Delta and Omicron variants were identified in the Tunisian wastewater. Interestingly, the presence of variant BA.5 was detected in samples prior to its inclusion as a variant of concern (VOC) by the Tunisian National Health Authorities. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in wastewater effluents, indicating that the wastewater treatment techniques used in the majority of Tunisian WWTPs are inefficient in removing the virus traces. This study reports the first identification of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs in Tunisian wastewater samples.

Indexed as

COVID-19SARS-CoV-2WastewaterHumansRNA, ViralTunisiaRNA, ViralWastewaterCOVID-19SARS-COV-2Tunisiavariant of concern (VOC)wastewaterwastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)

Identifiers

PMID39212274

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.