Influence of membrane pore-size on the recovery of endogenous viruses from wastewater using an adsorption-extraction method

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the significance of wastewater surveillance in monitoring and tracking the spread of infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2. The wastewater surveillance approach detects genetic fragments from viruses in wastewater, which could provide an early warning of outbreaks in commu-nities. In this study, we determined the concentrations of four types of endogenous viruses, including non -enveloped DNA (crAssphage and human adenovirus 40/41), non-enveloped RNA (enterovirus), and enveloped RNA (SARS-CoV-2) viruses, from wastewater samples using the adsorption-extraction (AE) method with elec-tronegative HA membranes of different pore sizes (0.22, 0.45, and 0.80 & mu;m). Our findings showed that the membrane with a pore size of 0.80 & mu;m performed comparably to the membrane with a pore size of 0.45 & mu;m for virus detection/quantitation (repeated measurement one-way ANOVA; p > 0.05). We also determined the re-covery efficiencies of indigenous crAssphage and pepper mild mottle virus, which showed recovery efficiencies ranging from 50% to 94% and from 20% to 62%, respectively. Our results suggest that the use of larger pore size membranes may be beneficial for processing larger sample volumes, particularly for environmental waters containing low concentrations of viruses. This study offers valuable insights into the application of the AE method for virus recovery from wastewater, which is essential for monitoring and tracking infectious diseases in communities.

Automated summary

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of wastewater surveillance in monitoring and tracking the spread of infectious diseases, such as SARS-CoV-2. This study used the adsorption-extraction (AE) method with different pore size membranes to determine the concentrations of four types of endogenous viruses in wastewater samples. The results showed that the larger pore size membrane performed comparably to the smaller pore size membrane for virus detection/quantitation. The study provides valuable insights into the application of the AE method for virus recovery from wastewater, which is crucial for monitoring and tracking infectious diseases in communities.