Persistence of respiratory, enteric, and fecal indicator viruses in fecal sludge from on-site sanitation in Dakar, Senegal

Citations Over TimeTop 13% of 2024 papers

Abstract

ABSTRACT As wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) broadens to include prevalent diseases with significant global health impact, existing surveillance systems concentrate on sewer-based infrastructure, which excludes the 2.7 billion people using non-sewered systems. To address this gap, our study explores the potential of fecal sludge treatment plants for WBE, emphasizing the stability of virus ribonucleic acid (RNA) targets within pooled fecal sludge. We screened fecal sludge from a centralized treatment facility in Dakar, Senegal for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2, human norovirus, and microbial source trackers pepper mild mottle virus and tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). Decay kinetics of viral genomic RNA markers were examined at 4, 15, and 30 °C over 70 days. Results indicate the high persistence of viral targets in fecal sludge (T90 value of 3.3 months for exogenous SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 and 6.2 months for ToBRFV), with all targets detected throughout the 70-day experiment under various temperatures with limited decay (<90% reduction). This study improves our understanding of virus persistence in on-site sanitation systems by providing essential decay rate constants for effective target detection. Our results indicate that sampling at centralized facilities treating fecal sludge from on-site sanitation could facilitate localized pathogen surveillance in low-income settings.

Related Papers

• → Understanding values of sanitation users: examining preferences and behaviors for sanitation systems(2021)6 cited
• → Monitoring sanitation performance: unpacking the figures on sanitation coverage(2015)6 cited
• → Sanitation policy: making it work(2006)1 cited
• The Impact of Sanitation on Hygienic Conditions of Community in City Jampur(2015)
• Investigation on the Sanitation Monitoring Units of Fujian Province(2005)