Abstract：
Wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance at municipal wastewater treatment plants has proven to play an important role in COVID-19 surveillance. Considering international passenger hubs contribute extensively to global transmission of viruses, wastewater surveillance at this type of location may be of added value as well. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of long-term wastewater surveillance at a large passenger hub as an additional tool for public health surveillance during different stages of a pandemic. Here, we present an analysis of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in airport wastewater by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Feb 2020, and an analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants by whole-genome next-generation sequencing from Sep 2020, both until Sep 2022, in the Netherlands. Results are contextualized using (inter)national measures and data sources such as passenger numbers, clinical surveillance data and national wastewater surveillance data. Our findings show that wastewater surveillance was possible throughout the study period, irrespective of measures, as viral loads were detected and quantified in 98.6 % (273/277) of samples. Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, identified in 91.0 % (161/177) of sequenced samples, coincided with increases in viral loads. Furthermore, trends in viral load and variant detection in airport wastewater closely followed, and in some cases preceded, trends in national daily average viral load in wastewater and variants detected in clinical surveillance. Wastewater-based epidemiology at a large international airport is a valuable addition to classical COVID-19 surveillance and the developed expertise can be applied in pandemic preparedness plans for other (emerging) pathogens in the future.
摘要：
事实证明，市政污水处理厂基于废水的流行病学监测在COVID-19监测中发挥着重要作用。考虑到国际客运枢纽对病毒的全球传播做出了广泛的贡献，在这种类型的位置进行废水监测也可能具有附加值。这项研究的目的是探索在大型客运枢纽进行长期废水监测的潜力，作为在大流行的不同阶段进行公共卫生监测的额外工具。这里,我们从2020年2月COVID-19大流行开始,通过逆转录定量聚合酶链反应(RT-qPCR)对机场废水中的SARS-CoV-2病毒载量进行了分析,并从2020年9月至2022年9月,通过全基因组下一代测序对SARS-CoV-2变异进行了分析.使用(国家间)措施和数据来源，如乘客人数，临床监测数据和国家废水监测数据。我们的研究结果表明，在整个研究期间，废水监测是可能的，无论采取何种措施,因为在98.6%(273/277)的样本中检测并定量了病毒载量.SARS-CoV-2变种的出现，在91.0%(161/177)的测序样品中鉴定，同时增加病毒载量。此外，机场废水中病毒载量和变异检测的趋势紧随其后，在某些情况下，全国每日平均废水病毒载量趋势和临床监测中检测到的变异。大型国际机场的废水流行病学是经典COVID-19监测的宝贵补充，所开发的专业知识可用于未来其他（新兴）病原体的大流行准备计划。
