Poo Britannia
Researchers track UK variant of coronavirus in wastewater
Cambridge-based researchers have detected the more contagious U.K. variant in coronavirus wastewater samples, a “potentially pretty significant” breakthrough that could help officials shift vaccines to areas with more highly infectious variants, a leading epidemiologist tells the Herald.
Researchers at Biobot Analytics — which has been tracking COVID-19 sewage samples in Greater Boston — have identified the B.1.1.7 variant in wastewater samples across the U.S., the company announced Wednesday.
“Launching B.1.1.7 analysis is the first step in a wastewater-based epidemiology approach that will expand to other variants as the COVID-19 pandemic evolves,” Mariana Matus, Biobot CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.
Biobot’s national network of community partners will now have information about the presence of the more contagious variant in their regions, the company said.
The scientists are also continuing research and development for other variants of concern.
The U.K. variant detection development has not yet been peer-reviewed, noted Boston University epidemiology professor Matthew Fox.
“But if the method is determined to indeed to be valid, it could be really helpful and potentially pretty significant,” Fox said. “Wastewater surveillance has been underutilized but has done a good job of predicting changes in the COVID-19 curve.
“So if we could also use it to detect shifts in variants, it could also allow for faster action,” he added. “If we could shift vaccines to areas with more highly infectious variants and also take public health action, we could prevent them from spreading.”
The CDC variant tracker shows a total of 686 confirmed U.K. variant cases in Massachusetts. But the sequence analysis has been “limiting,” said Davidson Hamer, a Boston University specialist in infectious diseases.
“This should be some great supplemental information to give us an idea of the proportion of B.1.1.7. in the area,” he said of the research breakthrough.
“Right now we’re in a race to get the vaccine out to as many people as possible before this strain really affects more people,” Hamer added. “It’s definitely more transmissible.”
Results in Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s study to track COVID-19 in Greater Boston wastewater spiked in January.
Biobot Analytics is now accepting and analyzing wastewater samples for the
U.K. variant, and plans to add additional variants to its analysis as methods are developed.
The Cambridge-based company is working on this effort with Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s Research Enterprise in Singapore.