Context. Arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) are pathogens that impose a great social and economic burden globally. Clinical surveillance of arbovirus outbreaks is insufficient to assess the true prevalence as a large proportion of cases exhibit no or only mild clinical symptoms such as reported for Dengue and Zika virus. Hence, there is a need for complementary surveillance methods that can assess the prevalence of arboviral infections and preempt arboviral outbreaks.
Gap. Reports of urinary shedding of several arboviruses suggest the possibility of utilizing wastewater surveillance to assess outbreaks. However, viruses are only suitable for wastewater surveillance if they are persistent enough in wastewater to be quantifiable upon recovery.
Aim. To determine the feasibility of wastewater surveillance for arboviruses by (1) reviewing the current knowledge of fecal and urinary shedding of arboviruses (2) testing the persistence of several arboviruses in a wastewater matrix and (3) evaluating methods to recover arboviruses.
Methods. Persistence of arboviral signals were assayed by following the decay pattern of a panel of arboviruses (including DENV-2, DENV-3, ZIKV, and YFV) that was spiked into a wastewater microcosm. Additionally, we compared several viral recovery methods on their effectiveness: column-based ultrafiltration and charged membranes.
Findings. Arboviral RNA has been reported to be shed at 104 to 108 RNA copies per infected person and day. This, along with our observation that the panel of arboviruses can remain detectable in wastewater in the course of days, suggests the plausibility of arboviral surveillance through wastewater. Moreover, we assessed that arboviruses can be effectively recovered with both column-based size exclusion and charged membranes.
Utilization. The shedding and persistence of arboviral signals in wastewater suggests that there is a potential for wastewater surveillance for future arboviral outbreaks. This, taken together with arboviral recovery method results, will lay the groundwork for future arboviral wastewater surveillance.
