In order to determine if illnesses are increasing or decreasing in communities, scientists have been monitoring the amounts of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, according to a study published on the NIH website.
Every time a person uses the restroom or washes their hands, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is shed down the drain. Whether or not a person exhibits signs of the illness, this is still possible according to these scientists.
It has been challenging to isolate enough high-quality SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater to distinguish variations from the virus as a whole as RNA, the genetic material of the virus, is easily damaged and also relatively scarce in water samples.
The researchers tested the new monitoring system between November 2020 and September 2021. They examined wastewater gathered daily around the University of California, San Diego (UCSD campus).
Results from the study, which was funded in part by NIH, were published on July 7, 2022, in Nature.
