The presence and detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in sewage promises to be a sensitive tool to monitor the circulation of the virus in the population.(1,2) Researchers around the globe are currently optimizing and testing the protocols and methodology involved for sewage surveillance.(3,4) Their first and foremost aim is to develop a robust system which can detect and warn of a resurgence of cases earlier than clinical diagnostic tests.(2−4) As activities in this area of research accelerate, it is opportune to consider the urgency and importance of storing and archiving sewage and wastewater samples.(5,6) Archived samples may be instrumental in answering research questions unforeseen at the time of sampling, so the immediate preservation of sewage samples for subsequent studies is crucial. For example, phylogenetic analysis of sequences recovered from sewage to infer viral ancestry is on the horizon,(7) and archived sewage samples may well be vital to trace the spread of the virus retrospectively. As posited by Cary and Fierer(5) analytical techniques available for data generation tend to become more sensitive over time, and the techniques to detect SARS-CoV-2 in sewage appear to be a case in point.(1−4,7) In Switzerland, EAWAG has a collection of samples from the time of the SARS-CoV-2 eruption in the country early in 2020, stored at −20 °C for later analysis.(4) It seems conceivable that even more comprehensive collections are in storage elsewhere globally, both in the water industry and academia. There is currently a trend to sequence the microbial communities in wastewater treatment systems worldwide, and the associated sewage samples underlying these endeavors may well prove valuable in new and unexpected ways.(8,9) The precedent is already there: previously archived historical samples have been used in ways not foreseen at the time of sampling, to shed new light on the development and spread of antibiotic resistance genes in soils.(6,10,11) Thus, store your historical sewage samples and keep them available for reanalysis to retrospectively track and trace the causative agent of COVID-19. The author declares no competing financial interest. This article references 11 other publications.

中文翻译：

---

污水归档在冠状病毒流行病学及其他领域的重要性。

污水中严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 的存在和检测有望成为监测病毒在人群中传播的敏感工具。(1,2) 全球研究人员目前正在优化和检测测试污水监测所涉及的协议和方法。(3,4) 他们的首要目标是开发一个强大的系统，能够比临床诊断测试更早地检测和警告病例的再次出现。(2−4)随着这一领域研究的加速，现在有必要考虑存储和归档污水和废水样本的紧迫性和重要性。(5,6) 归档样本可能有助于回答采样时不可预见的研究问题，因此立即保存污水样本对于后续研究至关重要。例如，对从污水中回收的序列进行系统发育分析以推断病毒祖先即将到来，（7）并且存档的污水样本对于追溯病毒的传播可能至关重要。正如 Cary 和 Fierer 所提出的(5)，随着时间的推移，可用于数据生成的分析技术往往变得更加敏感，检测污水中 SARS-CoV-2 的技术似乎就是一个很好的例子。(1−4,7)在瑞士，EAWAG 收集了 2020 年初该国 SARS-CoV-2 爆发时的样本，并在 -20 °C 下保存以供日后分析。(4) 似乎可以想象，更全面的收集正在进行中。全球其他地方的存储，包括水工业和学术界。目前有一种趋势是对全球废水处理系统中的微生物群落进行测序，而这些努力背后的相关污水样本很可能以新的和意想不到的方式证明是有价值的。(8,9) 先例已经存在：以前存档的历史样本已经被证明是有价值的。以采样时未预见到的方式使用，为土壤中抗生素抗性基因的发展和传播提供新的线索。(6,10,11) 因此，存储您的历史污水样本并保留它们以供回顾性重新分析追踪和追踪 COVID-19 的病原体。作者声明不存在竞争性经济利益。本文引用了其他 11 篇出版物。