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Biotechnology/DNA testing
The fast-spreading coronavirus variant is turning up in US sewers
The toilet flushes of millions of people can track the rise of dangerous new strains of the covid-19 virus.
by Antonio Regalado
February 8, 2021
An aerial view of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Wastewater Treatment Plant in Oakland, California. Stanford University researchers are testing samples of sewage water to track covid-19 since the virus can be detected in fecal matter soon after initial infection.
A hyper-transmissible form of the coronavirus that causes covid-19 has been found in US sewer systems in California and Florida, confirming its widening presence in the US.
Buckets of dirty water drawn from sewer pipes near Los Angeles and outside Orlando starting in late January are among those in which genetic mutations shared by a so-called UK variant have been detected.
The UK strain B.1.1.7, a mutated form of the coronavirus first discovered in southeast England in December, doesn’t seem to resist vaccines, but it does appear to spread more easily and has already taken over in countries including Israel, where it’s now responsible for 80% of cases. Some researchers have warned that if the variant takes hold in the US, it could become the dominant form by March.
The new sewage data is consistent with other estimates that the variant is increasing its reach. On January 7, the company Helix and researchers in California used patient test results to estimate that the variant is now responsible for 1% to 2% of cases in the US as a whole and 4% in Florida, about four times the proportion found in early January.
In the sewers of Altamonte Springs, near Orlando, tests on waste water suggest that 4% of those infected have the new variant. “I was thinking it would be in Miami or larger areas. But that was wishful thinking,” says Ed Torres, director of public works and utilities in Altamonte Springs, who oversees the sewage testing program.
We may have only weeks to act before a variant coronavirus dominates the US
A strain of covid-19 that appears to spread faster is colliding with the campaign to vaccinate Americans.
Local spread
Sewer tests are now providing a direct glimpse of just how many people are infected with the variant in some cities. Torres says a model he works with indicates that more than 200 people are infected with the variant just in his wastewater collection region, an exurb of 77,500 people.
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