Technology developed by Technion researchers will allow a safe return to routine on campus * The technology for detecting the corona virus in the sewage system will provide information on the epidemic outbreak in real time
Technologies developed by Technion researchers will make it possible to safely return students, faculty members and employees to campus. In the "creating an open and safe campus" project that will be launched this week, the Technion management decided to use one of these technologies to sample the sewage system on campus. Thus, in the event of a corona outbreak on campus, the outbreak will be detected at an early stage and treated accordingly. The innovative method was developed by the research group of Prof. Eran Friedler from the Environmental and Water Engineering Unit at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering With researchers from the Ministry of Health, Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the "Kendo" company. It enables RNA monitoring of corona viruses in sewage water and provides data on the rate of outbreaks and their distribution in the geographical space on campus - information that is essential for early warning of outbreaks and verification of containment of infection.
"The return of the students, faculty members and employees to the campus is of great importance," he said The president of the Technion Prof. Uri Sion, ” in order to enable a return to a healthy and safe routine of teaching and research on campus alongside the virus, until a vaccine or cure is found, we must interrupt the circles of infection through early detection of outbreak centers, monitoring the virus in the sewage system will help us with this. The Technion campus is one of the first places where the innovative technology for monitoring corona will be applied regularly, and in this way we will receive current and up-to-date information in real time about the outbreaks of the virus and their spread on campus, and we will be able to deal with them at an early stage and stop the spread."
One of the great advantages of monitoring corona through the sewage system is the rapid and early mapping of a large population, including asymptomatic patients. This mapping, based on the fact that the virus reaches the sewage system through the feces, may allow early prevention of a renewed outbreak. In the world, there are already technologies of "sewage-based epidemiology" used to monitor bacteria and viruses, and in Israel, polio viruses were detected in the sewage system in 2013 - a detection that led to a vaccination operation that prevented an epidemic and stopped the outbreak.
"The sewage system is structured in a hierarchical manner so that each area can be divided into sub-areas," he explains Prof. Eran Friedler, "This structure will allow us to monitor the wastewater at certain points and thus identify the rate of corona positives at the regional level. This way we can focus on areas where there is high infection without testing the population itself and without the need to reach many people, at least until the focus of the outbreak is identified."
The project at the Technion campus is based on intelligent sampling in 10 control pits using intelligent automatic samplers from the "Kendo" company and on identifying outbreak centers according to the concentration of the RNA of the virus in the wastewater. The test is based on chemical and microbial-molecular analysis of the wastewater samples. These samples will be transferred to a dedicated laboratory, where the RNA of the virus will undergo a process of concentration and then identification and quantification using qPCR. The tests will be done at the end of each sampling day and the findings will form the basis for ongoing risk assessment and setting priorities in performing extensive screening tests that will be available on campus.
Last May, Prof. Friedler's research group was a partner in the first pilot study of its kind in Israel in Ashkelon - a city of 150,000 inhabitants. The city of Ashkelon was divided into sub-regions and the sampling was carried out in selected sewer ditches. The virus was detected in the city's wastewater and the researchers were able to locate spatial variation of the virus in the wastewater, a fact that indicates a different level of infection in different neighborhoods. Furthermore, they were able to locate the outbreak of a second wave in the city before it was discovered in the routine corona tests. The methodology. In the future, the development will make it possible to get a clearer picture of the situation and make it possible to identify the outbreak of the disease in the early stages and to avoid imposing general closures.
According to Prof. Friedler, "In the experiments we showed that the method we developed is effective in identifying the outbreaks of the corona virus, and in the future we will be able to apply it to the early detection of other diseases as well." In order to complete the monitoring system of the outbreaks of the corona virus at the Technion, to maintain the health of the dormitories and reduce the spread of the corona virus as much as possible As possible, the Technion made available to the students a PCR testing station for corona in cooperation with the Rambam Medical Center. The tests that are carried out with strict and maximum protection of the subject's privacy will complete the overall picture of the situation on campus.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Look for the corona virus in the sewers
- New technology for locating corona patients and warning of critical breathing problems - a development by researchers at the Technion and Rambam
- 23% of deaths in the world are caused by an unhealthy environment
5 תגובות
Here is an article about finding covid-19 in the sewage of 4 dormitory buildings of the campus of the University of Colorado in the USA. The article is from the beginning of September - the beginning of the studies was at the end of August.
https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/09/02/wastewater-testing-flags-four-cu-boulder-dorms-for-coronavirus/
All students in the four buildings were asked to take a corona test immediately, in addition to the weekly test that all dorm residents must pass. The university has trained over 200 isolation rooms for patients.
Until the corona is completely eradicated, it is better that the studies continue in Zoom. Stop trying to look for trouble and turn students into guinea pigs. Their lives are more important.
The studies are conducted in Zoom to the satisfaction of everyone. Except maybe the food vendors on campus.
It says, they place the equipment at different points on the campus and so they can know where there is a concentration of patients in real time.
The "innovative method" has been functioning for decades. It hit the headlines about 50 years ago when polio was discovered in the sewers in the Netanya-Hadera area (one teacher was paralyzed). And again, about 5 years ago, polio was discovered in the sewers in Be'er Sheva and most Israeli children were asked to come and receive a live vaccine (no one was harmed). On campuses in the USA, the method has been working for several months, especially in student residences, where the sewers of each building are checked. If the virus is detected in a certain building, all its residents are tested and quarantined. In addition, according to the amount of viruses in the sewage, there is an estimate of how many patients there are in the building.
If there is something innovative in the test itself, we will be happy to read.
Communications from publicists should be taken with caution - these are not scientific articles.
A bit skeptical about this test. So what do you want to show that the sewers are full of corona? Is every house sitting on a reservoir of Corona? So why not do anything to destroy all the bacteria in biof. In short, someone wants to sell a Harta device to the authorities. If that's the case, then all the plumbers are infected and spreading corona in their surroundings because all their work is to poke around in the beauty salons all day