Variations among Viruses in Influent Water and Effluent Water at a Wastewater Plant over One Year as Assessed by Quantitative PCR and Metagenomics
Hao Wang, Julianna Neyvaldt, Lucica Enache, Per Sikora, Ann E. Mattsson, Anette Johansson, Magnus Lindh, Olof Bergstedt, Heléne Norder
Abstract
Both influent wastewater and treated wastewater at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) contain a high variety of human viral pathogens with seasonal variability when followed for 1 year. The peak of the amount of 11 different viruses in the inlet wastewater preceded the peak of the number of diagnosed patients by 2 to 4 weeks. The treatment of wastewater reduced viral concentrations by 3 to 6 log 10 . Despite the treatment of wastewater, up to 5 log 10 virus particles per liter were released from into the surrounding river. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) strains previously identified in drinking water and two new strains, similar to those infecting rats and humans, were identified in the treated wastewater released from the WWTP.