Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

September 14, 2020

Genome Sequencing of Sewage Detects Regionally Prevalent SARS-CoV-2 Variants

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  • [Preprint, not peer-reviewed] Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage samples from the San Francisco Bay Area found that the dominant genotypes matched genotypes found in clinical samples from the region. Genotypic variants found in wastewater samples were more similar to local California patient-derived genotypes than they were to those from other regions within the US or globally. The authors conclude that wastewater sequencing could be used to track viral lineages during local epidemiological surveillance and can detect recent introductions of new viral lineages before they are detected by local clinical sequencing.

Crits-Christoph et al. (Sept 14, 2020). Genome Sequencing of Sewage Detects Regionally Prevalent SARS-CoV-2 Variants. Pre-print downloaded September 14 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.13.20193805