We investigated the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in wastewater samples in southern Louisiana, USA. Untreated and treated wastewater samples were collected over a four-month period from January to April 2020. The wastewater samples were concentrated via ultrafiltration (Method A), and an adsorption–elution method using electronegative membrane (Method B). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 2 out of 15 wastewater samples using two reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays (CDC N1 and N2). None of the secondary treated and final effluent samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Our results suggest that wastewater-based epidemiology could be utilized to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community, and to predict disease circulation and upcoming waves. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater in the USA. However, concentration methods and RT-qPCR assays need to be refined and validated to increase the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in wastewater.

我们调查了美国路易斯安那州南部废水样本中是否存在严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA。从 2020 年 1 月到 4 月的四个月内收集了未经处理和处理过的废水样品。废水样品通过超滤（方法 A）和使用负电膜的吸附-洗脱方法（方法 B）进行浓缩。使用两种逆转录定量聚合酶链反应 (RT-qPCR) 检测（CDC N1 和 N2），在 15 个废水样本中的 2 个中检测到 SARS-CoV-2 RNA。二级处理样品和最终废水样品均未检测出 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 呈阳性。我们的结果表明，基于废水的流行病学可用于监测社区中 COVID-19 的流行情况，并预测疾病传播和即将到来的疾病浪潮。据我们所知，这是第一项报告在美国废水中检测到 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 的研究。然而，浓缩方法和 RT-qPCR 检测需要改进和验证，以提高废水中 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 检测的灵敏度。