Long-term wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and variants at the major international passenger hub Amsterdam Schiphol Airport: A valuable addition to COVID-19 surveillance

Wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance at municipal wastewater treatment plants has proven to play an important role in COVID-19 surveillance. Considering international passenger hubs contribute extensively to global transmission of viruses, wastewater surveillance at this type of location may be of added value as well. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of long-term wastewater surveillance at a large passenger hub as an additional tool for public health surveillance during different stages of a pandemic. Here, we present an analysis of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in airport wastewater by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Feb 2020, and an analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants by whole-genome next-generation sequencing from Sep 2020, both until Sep 2022, in the Netherlands. Results are contextualized using (inter)national measures and data sources such as passenger numbers, clinical surveillance data and national wastewater surveillance data. Our findings show that wastewater surveillance was possible throughout the study period, irrespective of measures, as viral loads were detected and quantified in 98.6 % (273/277) of samples. Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, identified in 91.0 % (161/177) of sequenced samples, coincided with increases in viral loads. Furthermore, trends in viral load and variant detection in airport wastewater closely followed, and in some cases preceded, trends in national daily average viral load in wastewater and variants detected in clinical surveillance. Wastewater-based epidemiology at a large international airport is a valuable addition to classical COVID-19 surveillance and the developed expertise can be applied in pandemic preparedness plans for other (emerging) pathogens in the future

Patterns of SARS-CoV-2 circulation revealed by a nationwide sewage surveillance programme, the Netherlands, August 2020 to February 2022

BackgroundSurveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater offers a near real-time tool to track circulation of SARS-CoV-2 at a local scale. However, individual measurements of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage are noisy, inherently variable and can be left-censored.AimWe aimed to infer latent virus loads in a comprehensive sewage surveillance programme that includes all sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the Netherlands and covers 99.6% of the Dutch population.MethodsWe applied a multilevel Bayesian penalised spline model to estimate time- and STP-specific virus loads based on water flow-adjusted SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR data for one to four sewage samples per week for each of the more than 300 STPs.ResultsThe model captured the epidemic upsurges and downturns in the Netherlands, despite substantial day-to-day variation in the measurements. Estimated STP virus loads varied by more than two orders of magnitude, from ca 1012 virus particles per 100,000 persons per day in the epidemic trough in August 2020 to almost 1015 per 100,000 in many STPs in January 2022. The timing of epidemics at the local level was slightly shifted between STPs and municipalities, which resulted in less pronounced peaks and troughs at the national level.ConclusionAlthough substantial day-to-day variation is observed in virus load measurements, wastewater-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 that is performed at high sampling frequency can track long-term progression of an epidemic at a local scale in near real time

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Extra files and information not referenced in the pape

Power and Type I Error of Local Fit Statistics in Multilevel Latent Class Analysis: Appendix

Appendix and additional materia

Data underlying the publication: "Distribution and ontogenetic habitat shifts of reef-associated shark species in the northeastern Caribbean"

Understanding how reef-associated sharks utilise coastal reef habitats throughout their ontogeny is essential for their effective management. In this study, we assessed the distribution of sharks in the northern Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Saba Bank and St Eustatius) and ontogenetic shifts in habitat and depth use of the 2 most observed species: Caribbean reef shark Carcharhinus perezi and nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum. We used stereo baited remote underwater video (stereo-BRUV) surveys at 376 sites. A total of 126 shark sightings (6 species) were recorded, with C. perezi (n = 72) and G. cirratum (n = 42) most frequently observed. The probability of recording at least 1 shark per deployment ranged from 0.19 to 0.37 and is comparable with shark occurrences in the small number of other stereo-BRUV studies in the Wider Caribbean Region. Habitat type was the most important factor driving reef-associated shark occurrences, with the highest probability of observing C. perezi and G. cirratum in soft-coral habitat. Additionally, occurrences of C. perezi were significantly influenced by the management zone, with highest probabilities of occurrence in no-fishing zones. Almost all observed reef-associated sharks (95.6%) were juveniles, indicating that the study area may be a nursery area. Overall, both species were observed in deeper waters with increasing size, indicating ontogenetic shifts in depth use. Our findings imply that protected areas should not be limited to a single habitat or depth, but focus on protecting a large area with the range of habitats and depths necessary for reef-associated sharks to complete their life cycle

Data underlying the publication: Sex differentiation in seasonal distribution of the starry smooth‐hound Mustelus asterias

The data underlies the publication (Brevé et al. 2020). This data set has data on reported recaptures. Between 2011 and 2019, almost 4000 starry smooth-hound sharks (Mustelus asterias) were tagged in the Netherlands. The total number of reported recaptures was 220 (4.9%: Table 1): 114 females (50-124 cm LT), 102 males (47-105 cm LT), and 4 non-sexed (56-100 cm LT)

The detection of monkeypox virus DNA in wastewater samples in the Netherlands.

[Figure: see text