In the current COVID-19 pandemic, a significant proportion of cases shed SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with their faeces. To determine if SARS-CoV-2 RNA was present in sewage during the emergence of COVID-19 in The Netherlands, sewage samples of six cities and the airport were tested using four qRT-PCR assays, three targeting the nucleocapsid gene (N1–N3) and one the envelope gene (E). No SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected on February 6, 3 weeks before the first Dutch case was reported. On March 4/5, one or more gene fragments were detected in sewage of three sites, in concentrations of 2.6–30 gene copies per mL. In Amersfoort, N3 was detected in sewage 6 days before the first cases were reported. As the prevalence of COVID-19 in these cities increased in March, the RNA signal detected by each qRT-PCR assay increased, for N1–N3 up to 790–2200 gene copies per mL. This increase correlated significantly with the increase in reported COVID-19 prevalence. The detection of the virus RNA in sewage, even when the COVID-19 prevalence is low, and the correlation between concentration in sewage and reported prevalence of COVID-19, indicate that sewage surveillance could be a sensitive tool to monitor the circulation of the virus in the population.

中文翻译：

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污水中 SARS-Coronavirus-2 RNA 的存在及其与荷兰疫情早期报告的 COVID-19 流行率的相关性

在当前的 COVID-19 大流行中，很大一部分病例通过粪便排出 SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)。为了确定荷兰出现 COVID-19 期间污水中是否存在 SARS-CoV-2 RNA，使用四种 qRT-PCR 检测方法对六个城市和机场的污水样本进行了测试，其中三种方法针对核衣壳基因 (N1–N3) ) 和一个包膜基因 (E)。2 月 6 日，也就是报告第一例荷兰病例的前 3 周，没有检测到 SARS-CoV-2 RNA。3月4日/5日，在三个地点的污水中检测到一个或多个基因片段，浓度为每毫升2.6-30个基因拷贝。在阿默斯福特，在报告第一例病例前 6 天，在污水中检测到了 N3。随着 3 月份这些城市中 COVID-19 患病率的增加，每次 qRT-PCR 检测检测到的 RNA 信号也有所增加，对于 N1-N3，每毫升高达 790-2200 个基因拷贝。这一增加与报告的 COVID-19 患病率的增加显着相关。即使在 COVID-19 流行率较低的情况下，在污水中检测到病毒 RNA，以及污水中的浓度与报告的 COVID-19 流行率之间的相关性表明，污水监测可能是监测病毒传播的敏感工具在人口中。