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Review
. 2023 Aug:333:138682.
doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138682. Epub 2023 May 16.

Understanding common population markers for SARS-CoV-2 RNA normalization in wastewater - A review

Femi F Oloye  1 , Yuwei Xie  2 , Jonathan K Challis  2 , Oluwabunmi P Femi-Oloye  2 , Markus Brinkmann  3 , Kerry N McPhedran  4 , Paul D Jones  3 , Mark R Servos  5 , John P Giesy  6
Affiliations
Review

Understanding common population markers for SARS-CoV-2 RNA normalization in wastewater - A review

Femi F Oloye et al. Chemosphere. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Wastewater monitoring and epidemiology have seen renewed interest during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, there is an increasing need to normalize wastewater-derived viral loads in local populations. Chemical tracers, both exogenous and endogenous compounds, have proven to be more stable and reliable for normalization than biological indicators. However, differing instrumentation and extraction methods can make it difficult to compare results. This review examines current extraction and quantification methods for ten common population indicators: creatinine, coprostanol, nicotine, cotinine, sucralose, acesulfame, androstenedione 5-hydroindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), caffeine, and 1,7-dimethyluric acid. Some wastewater parameters such as ammonia, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and daily flowrate were also evaluated. The analytical methods included direct injection, dilute and shoot, liquid/liquid, and solid phase extraction (SPE). Creatine, acesulfame, nicotine, 5-HIAA and androstenedione have been analysed by direct injection into LC-MS; however, most authors prefer to include SPE steps to avoid matrix effects. Both LC-MS and GC-MS have been successfully used to quantify coprostanol in wastewater, and the other selected indicators have been quantified successfully with LC-MS. Acidification to stabilize the sample before freezing to maintain the integrity of samples has been reported to be beneficial. However, there are arguments both for and against working at acidic pHs. Wastewater parameters mentioned earlier are quick and easy to quantify, but the data does not always represent the human population effectively. A preference for population indicators originating solely from humans is apparent. This review summarises methods employed for chemical indicators in wastewater, provides a basis for choosing an appropriate extraction and analysis method, and highlights the utility of accurate chemical tracer data for wastewater-based epidemiology.

Keywords: Chemical indicator; Extraction; GC-MS; LC-MS; Population biomarker; Wastewater; Wastewater parameter.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Correlation of some parameters measured in wastewater (adapted from (Xie et al., 2022), Permission and license granted by ACS).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Normalization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral load with (A) acesulfame, (B) Ammonia, (C) PMMoV (adapted from Xie et al., 2022, Permission and license granted by ACS).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Seasonal stability of acesulfame (adapted from Xie et al., 2022, Permission and license granted by ACS).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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