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How sewage could reveal true scale of coronavirus outbreak

Wastewater testing could also be used as an early-warning sign if the virus returns.
  1. Smriti Mallapaty
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More than a dozen research groups worldwide have started analysing wastewater for the new coronavirus as a way to estimate the total number of infections in a community, given that most people will not be tested. The method could also be used to detect the coronavirus if it returns to communities, say scientists. So far, researchers have found traces of the virus in the Netherlands, the United States and Sweden.

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Nature 580, 176-177 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00973-x

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 03 April 2020: A previous version of this story referred to effluent instead of influent.

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