Association between confirmed COVID-19 cases at hospitals and SARS-CoV-2 levels in municipal wastewater during the pandemic and endemic phases

IF 10.3 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Environment International Pub Date : 2025-02-20 DOI:10.1016/j.envint.2025.109342

Keisuke Kagami , Masaaki Kitajima , Hiromoto Watanabe , Toshihiro Hamada , Yasunobu Kobayashi , Haruka Kubo , Seiko Oono , Hiromi Takai , Shuichi Ota , Tatsuya Nagakura , Toshiyuki Onda , Kanako Nagahori , Noriaki Sasaki , Ikuya Fujimoto , Akiko Sato , Sosuke Sumikawa , Daisuke Matsui , Yuka Ito , Megumi Baba , Tsuyoshi Takeuchi , Nobuhisa Ishiguro

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

COVID-19 is now considered endemic in many countries. On May 8, 2023, Japan reclassified COVID-19 from a pandemic to an endemic status, shifting surveillance from universal to sentinel reporting and transitioning the testing and treatment cost of COVID-19 from public funding to individual health insurance coverage. Restrictions on movement, events, and business hours were lifted, potentially increasing cases and complicating tracking. Monitoring hospital cases remains essential to protect high-risk inpatients from nosocomial infections. In this study, 13,812 COVID-19 cases in 12 hospitals were analyzed and the results revealed a strong correlation between SARS-CoV-2 levels in municipal wastewater and weekly new cases during both the pandemic period (February 15, 2021 – February 26, 2023; Pearson’s r = 0.8321) and the endemic period (May 8, 2023 – October 1, 2023; Pearson’s r = 0.7501). SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in wastewater from municipal catchment areas showed a stronger correlation with the number of COVID-19 cases at hospitals than did RNA levels in wastewater from the catchment area where the hospitals are located. The difference in correlations was more pronounced during the endemic period. During the endemic period, measurements of SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in samples obtained from larger sewersheds may be more effective in capturing the overall trends of COVID-19 cases in a region. In other words, during the endemic period, municipal wastewater surveillance may reflect the number of COVID-19 cases in hospitals. Even for facilities that do not monitor SARS-CoV-2 in their own hospital wastewater, publicly available municipal wastewater data can be used to estimate the number of COVID-19 cases in hospitals. Furthermore, COVID-19 infection control measures within hospitals can be evaluated by comparing the number of nosocomial infection patients based on the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in municipal wastewater.

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来源期刊

Environment International 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

21.90

自引率

3.40%

发文量

734

审稿时长

2.8 months

期刊介绍： Environmental Health publishes manuscripts focusing on critical aspects of environmental and occupational medicine, including studies in toxicology and epidemiology, to illuminate the human health implications of exposure to environmental hazards. The journal adopts an open-access model and practices open peer review. It caters to scientists and practitioners across all environmental science domains, directly or indirectly impacting human health and well-being. With a commitment to enhancing the prevention of environmentally-related health risks, Environmental Health serves as a public health journal for the community and scientists engaged in matters of public health significance concerning the environment.