"Now that we've got this process set up, which involves going from collecting the wastewater to extracting the viral RNA to testing it, we could definitely use the same process again, and just put a different assay at the end to detect a different pathogen."įor the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a nonpatient care area where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed. And it's something we couldn't have probably done five or 10 years ago." "I think it's just that it's a really interesting, new technique.
Meaning it could help predict future COVID-19 surges. "In addition to just knowing what's going on, it's useful because if you see the cases or the amount of virus that's in the wastewater increasing, then that might suggest that more patients might need to seek medical care soon, because there's more community transmission." Here is the latest graph which shows the SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels have dramatically decreased since the beginning of 2022 when it was very high due to the omicron surge. So, we're really measuring the amount of viral RNA rather than the amount of total virus." "We can measure the amount of RNA that's in the wastewater using that technology. Mayo Clinic molecular genetic pathologist, Dr. "It's very sensitive, and it's quantitative." They do so using droplet digital PCR analysis.
Mayo Clinic labs don't actually test the water for the SAR S -CoV-2 virus itself, they test for a particular gene that's extracted from the sample. "You know, they’re the backbone of what we’re doing here.” And we can take one sample, we do some initial processing and then we hand it off to Mayo." "We collect wastewater from the entire city of Rochester, so about 110,000 to 115,000 people. The process starts here at Rochester Public Works in Rochester, Minnesota.
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