DETECTION AND MONITORING OF SARS-CoV-2 RNA FRAGMENTS IN WASTEWATER USING A MALDI-TOF MASS SPECTROMETER

Wastewater monitoring has been successfully used to identify illicit drug hotspots, and track and provide early warnings of occurrences of pathogenic viruses such as Hepatitis A and Norovirus. Likewise, there is a potential value in using wastewater surveillance to monitor the existence and spread of the novel Covid-19 virus in communities. Due to the multiple shedding routes ( through saliva, respiratory secretions, urine and faeces) of the virus from infected individuals, the COVID-19 virus, or at least its RNA strands, may reach collection systems and water resources recovery facilities (WRRFs) via wastewater.
Most laboratories use a molecular method called reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the COVID-19 virus in aqueous media. This is well established and can even detect tiny amounts of viruses, however the procedure has the following shortcomings:
• It is time-consuming, costly and sometimes prone to error.
• Although PCR has high sensitivity and specificity, requirements for complicated sample handling in the laboratory, skilled personnel, and a long period of data processing and analysis (4−6 h) are not conducive to real-time and effective monitoring of samples on location.
• Since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, there has been global supply challenges, with huge demand for PCR primers, as well as for the positive controls needed to ensure the performance of individual machines. This has impacted on testing and data collection.
Therefore, a fast, reliable and more accessible testing method for SARS-CoV-2 virions is urgently needed to combat the spread of this deadly disease. In this study, we intend to use a mass spectrometer to accurately and quickly detect low-levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments in wastewater sources to confirm suspected cases and screen asymptomatic infected cases.