2026-04-13T02:51:07Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request
oai:recercat.cat:10256/235232024-06-18T11:54:51Zcom_2072_452955com_2072_2054col_2072_453077
RECERCAT author Zammit, Ian author Badia, Sergi author Mejías Molina, Cristina author Rusiñol Arantegui, Marta author Bofill Mas, Silvia author Borrego i Moré, Carles author Corominas Tabares, Lluís 2024-06-18T11:54:51Z 2024-06-18T11:54:51Z 2024-01-10 http://hdl.handle.net/10256/23523 In recent years, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a valuable and cost-effective tool for monitoring the prevalence of COVID-19. Large-scale monitoring efforts have been implemented in numerous countries, primarily focusing on sampling at the entrance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to cover a large population. However, sampling at a finer spatial scale, such as at the neighborhood level (NGBs), pose new challenges, including the absence of composite sampling infrastructure and increased uncertainty due to the dynamics of small catchments. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and accuracy of WBE when deployed at the neighborhood level (sampling in sewers) compared to the city level (sampling at the entrance of a WWTP). To achieve this, we deployed specific WBE sampling stations at the intraurban scale within three NGBs in Barcelona, Spain. The study period covers the 5th and the 6th waves of COVID-19 in Spain, spanning from March 2021 to March 2022, along with the WWTP downstream from the NGBs. The results showed a strong correlation between the dynamics of COVID-19 clinical cases and wastewater SARS-CoV-2 loads at both the NGB and city levels. Notably, during the 5th wave, which was dominated by the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant, wastewater loads were higher than during the 6th wave (Omicron variant), despite a lower number of clinical cases recorded during the 5th wave. The correlations between wastewater loads and clinical cases at the NGB level were stronger than at the WWTP level. However, the early warning potential varied across neighborhoods and waves, with some cases showing a one-week early warning and others lacking any significant early warning signal. Interestingly, the prevalence of COVID-19 did not exhibit major differences among NGBs with different socioeconomic statusesOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Elsevier Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Pandèmia de COVID-19, 2020- COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- Aigües residuals -- Mostreig Sewage -- Sampling Epidemiologia Epidemiology Zooming in to the neighborhood level: A year-long wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring campaign for COVID-19 in small intraurban catchments info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion peer-reviewed