38th webinar of the Hebd'Eau series entitled "The CentrEau-COVID project: Monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 virus with wastewater".
Speaker:Peter Vanrolleghem (Université Laval) and Dominic Frigon (McGill)
Language: French with French/English slideshow
Présentation : See the PDF »
Summary:
Wastewater analysis detects SARS with high sensitivity: it takes only 1 to 30 infected individuals (including asymptomatic individuals) per 100,000 people in the sewage of a population. In addition, since stool contains the virus up to a few days before the person develops symptoms, this approach allows detection of outbreaks from 2 to 7 days before the increase in the positivity rate of clinical screening tests. Of course, this type of testing complements individual testing. This detection system also provides a quick indication of whether new measures (masking, containment, curfew) are effective. By sequencing wastewater samples, it is also possible to detect the presence of new variants of the virus in a territory served by a wastewater treatment plant..
At CentrEau, our researchers have been working since March 2020 to implement a COVID-19 monitoring and early warning system using wastewater. Thanks to a $1 million grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) and the contribution of other financial partners, for a total funding of $1.7 M, a monitoring pilot project started in January 2021 in five regions of Quebec (Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, Bas-Saint-Laurent/Gaspésie and Mauricie/Centre-du-Québec), coordinated by Professors Dominic Frigon (McGill University) and Peter Vanrolleghem (Université Laval) - the CentrEau-COVID project.
The project, which is nearing completion, has developed and validated protocols for wastewater monitoring sampling, analysis and data management, and has brought together 14 researchers from Quebec and trained over 50 students and technical and research staff.
In this webinar, Professors Frigon and Vanrolleghem will summarize the objectives of the CentrEau-COVID project and will provide an update on the successful outcomes that have already resulted from the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance pilot project.
New series of weekly CentrEau webinars "all about water management". These short 20-minute presentations will be offered live every Thursday at 1 p.m. followed by a short discussion period. CentrEau professors and researchers, as well as guest speakers, will present their research work and its importance in a semi-popularized manner. Watch the previous webinars on our YouTube Channel.
