Suitability of aircraft wastewater for pathogen detection and public health surveillance

Davey L. Jones*, Jennifer M. Rhymes, Matthew J. Wade, Jessica L. Kevill, Shelagh K. Malham, Jasmine M.S. Grimsley, Charlotte Rimmer, Andrew J. Weightman, Kata Farkas

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    22 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    International air travel is now widely recognised as one of the primary mechanisms responsible for the transnational movement and global spread of SARS-CoV-2. Monitoring the viral load and novel lineages within human-derived wastewater collected from aircraft and at air transport hubs has been proposed as an effective way to monitor the importation frequency of viral pathogens. The success of this approach, however, is highly dependent on the bathroom and defecation habits of air passengers during their journey. In this study of UK adults (n = 2103), we quantified the likelihood of defecation prior to departure, on the aircraft and upon arrival on both short- and long-haul flights. The results were then used to assess the likelihood of capturing the signal from infected individuals at UK travel hubs. To obtain a representative cross-section of the population, the survey was stratified by geographical region, gender, age, parenting status, and social class. We found that an individual's likelihood to defecate on short-haul flights (< 6 h in duration) was low (< 13 % of the total), but was higher on long-haul flights (< 36 %; > 6 h in duration). This behaviour pattern was higher among males and younger age groups. The maximum likelihood of defecation was prior to departure (< 39 %). Based on known SARS-CoV-2 faecal shedding rates (30–60 %) and an equal probability of infected individuals being on short- (71 % of inbound flights) and long-haul flights (29 %), we estimate that aircraft wastewater is likely to capture ca. 8–14 % of SARS-CoV-2 cases entering the UK. Monte Carlo simulations predicted that SARS-CoV-2 would be present in wastewater on 14 % of short-haul flights and 62 % of long-haul flights under current pandemic conditions. We conclude that aircraft wastewater alone is insufficient to effectively monitor all the transboundary entries of faecal-borne pathogens but can form part of a wider strategy for public heath surveillance at national borders.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number159162
    JournalScience of the Total Environment, The
    Volume856
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2023

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    Davey Jones, Andrew Weightman and Shelagh Malham were supported by a grant from Welsh Government under the Welsh Wastewater Programme ( C035/2021/2022 ). We also acknowledge funding from UK Research and Innovation COVID-19 response programme funded through EPSRC ( EP/V044613/1 ) and NERC ( NE/V004883/1 and NE/V010441/1 ). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank the Welsh Government Technical Advisory Group for feedback on the draft manuscript. We thank Emma Green for administrative support.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022 The Authors

    Keywords

    • International air travel
    • Public health surveillance
    • SARS-CoV-2
    • Wastewater-based epidemiology

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