May 5, 2020

Coronavirus in Water Environments: Occurrence, Persistence and Concentration Methods – A Scoping Review

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

• Rosa et al. conduct a literature review and identify 12 studies of Coronaviruses (CoV) in water environments and evaluated implications for human health. Included studies suggest that: 1) CoV seems to have a low stability in water and is very sensitive to oxidants like chlorine; 2) CoV appears to be inactivated significantly faster in water than non-enveloped human enteric viruses with known waterborne transmission; 3) temperature is an important factor influencing viral survival (the titer of infectious virus declines more rapidly at 23°C or 25°C than at 4° C); 4) there is no current evidence that human coronaviruses are present in surface or ground waters or are transmitted through contaminated drinking water; 5) further research is needed to adapt the methods commonly used to sample and concentrate enteric, non–enveloped viruses from water environments so that they can be applied to enveloped viruses. 

Rosa et al. (April 28, 2020). Coronavirus in Water Environments: Occurrence, Persistence and Concentration Methods – A Scoping Review. Water Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.115899