Scientists delve into sewers to flush out virus

Kiwi scientists are turning to our sewers for signs of Covid-19.

Researchers at ESR are developing a pilot programme to see if the coronavirus can be detected in wastewater.

The approach — called wastewater-based epidemiology — has already been used in New Zealand to study other viruses, and even illegal drug use.

Recent studies have shown that live Sars-Cov-2 — the virus that causes

Covid-19 — can be isolated from the faeces and urine of infected people, and can sometimes survive for up to several days after leaving the body.

“If the virus can be detected, we would be in a position to provide information to better understand Covid-19, its prevalence and distribution across the country,” ESR’s manager for water and biowaste, Dr Brent Gilpin, said.

Scientists found coronavirus in sewage water in the Netherlands, and concluded it likely got there from the faeces of patients. Dutch researchers

We would be in a position to better understand . . . its prevalence and distribution across the country.

Dr Brent Gilpin

said the coronavirus was in samples taken from sewage treatment plants at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and the village of Kaatsheuvel, which treats waste water from the town where the country’s first Covid-19 patient lived.

The approach could alert authorities to cases before they were confirmed — or just provide a better picture of community-level infection.

In the UK, researchers at Cranfield University have been developing rapid-testing kits using paper-based devices that could be used at wastewater treatment plants.

“If Covid-19 can be monitored in a community at an early stage, effective intervention can be taken as early as possible to restrict the movements of that local population, working to minimise the pathogen spread and threat to public health,” Cranfield scientist Dr Zhugen Yang said.

Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said: “When you can pool specimens, you might test 20 or 100 samples at once. It’s a much more efficient way of testing.”

ESR and police have used wastewater sampling to search for traces of drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin and MDMA.