Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in Water and Wastewater #MMPMID37566354
Bivins A; Greaves J; Fischer R; Yinda KC; Ahmed W; Kitajima M; Munster VJ; Bibby K
Environ Sci Technol Lett 2020[Dec]; 7 (12): 937-42 PMID37566354show ga
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA is frequently detected in the feces of infected individuals. While infectious SARS-CoV-2 has not previously been identified in wastewater, infectious SARS-CoV-2 has been isolated from the feces of at least one patient, raising concerns about the presence of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The fate and inactivation characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in water and wastewater are unknown, with current inactivation estimates based on surrogate models. In this study, the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and RNA signal was determined in water and wastewater. The times for 90% reduction (T90) of viable SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and tap water at room temperature were 1.5 and 1.7 days, respectively. In high-starting titer (105 TCID50 mL?1) experiments, infectious virus persisted for the entire 7-day sampling time course. In wastewater at 50 and 70 °C, the observed T90 values for infectious SARS-CoV-2 were decreased to 15 and 2 min, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found to be significantly more persistent than infectious SARS-CoV-2, indicating that the environmental detection of RNA alone does not substantiate risk of infection.