%0 Journal Article
%T Decay of RNA and infectious SARS-CoV-2 and murine hepatitis virus in wastewater.
%A Purves K
%A Reynolds LJ
%A Sala-Comorera L
%A Martin NA
%A Dahly DL
%A Meijer WG
%A Fletcher NF
%J Sci Total Environ
%V 944
%N 0
%D 2024 Sep 20
%M 38871327
%F 10.753
%R 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173877
%X Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been an important tool for population surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to play a key role in monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection levels following reductions in national clinical testing schemes. Studies measuring decay profiles of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater have underscored the value of WBE, however investigations have been hampered by high biosafety requirements for SARS-CoV-2 infection studies. Therefore, surrogate viruses with lower biosafety standards have been used for SARS-CoV-2 decay studies, such as murine hepatitis virus (MHV), but few studies have directly compared decay rates of both viruses. We compared the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 and MHV in wastewater, using 50 % tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays to assess infectious virus titre and viral gene markers, respectively. Infectious SARS-CoV-2 and MHV indicate similar endpoints, however observed early decay characteristics differed, with infectious SARS-CoV-2 decaying more rapidly than MHV. We find that MHV is an appropriate infectious virus surrogate for viable SARS-CoV-2, however inconsistencies exist in viral RNA decay parameters, indicating MHV may not be a suitable nucleic acid surrogate across certain temperature regimes. This study highlights the importance of sample preparation and the potential for decay rate overestimation in wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.