Norovirus detection in wastewater and its correlation with human gastroenteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Yue Huang, Nan Zhou, Shihan Zhang, Youqin Yi, Ying Han, Minqi Liu, Yue Han, Naiyang Shi, Liuqing Yang, Qiang Wang, Tingting Cui, Hui Jin

Environmental science and pollution research international 2022 Apr

filter terms:

Norovirus (NoV) is a major cause of sporadic cases and outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (AGE), thereby imposing threat to health globally. It is unclear how quantitation of wastewater NoV reflects the incidence of human AGE infections; therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis of published NoV wastewater surveillance studies. A literature search was performed, and all studies on NoV wastewater surveillance were identified. Quantitative results were evaluated. The results showed that the overall detection rate of NoV in wastewater was 82.10% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 74.22-89.92%); NoV concentration was statistically significant in terms of season (P < 0.001), with higher concentration in spring and winter. There were positive correlations between NoV GII concentration in wastewater and GII AGE cases (rs = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.18-0.74, I2 = 0%), total AGE cases (rs = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.15-0.61, I2 = 23%) and NoV outbreaks (rs = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.30-0.62, I2 = 0%). Results of cross-correlation analysis of partial data indicated that variations in GII concentration were consistent with or ahead of those in the number of AGE cases. The diversity of NoV genotypes in wastewater was elucidated, and the dominant strains in wastewater showed a consistent temporal distribution with those responsible for human AGE. Our study demonstrated the potential association of NoV detected in wastewater with AGE infections, and further studies are needed to confirm this conclusion. © 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Citation

Yue Huang, Nan Zhou, Shihan Zhang, Youqin Yi, Ying Han, Minqi Liu, Yue Han, Naiyang Shi, Liuqing Yang, Qiang Wang, Tingting Cui, Hui Jin. Norovirus detection in wastewater and its correlation with human gastroenteritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental science and pollution research international. 2022 Apr;29(16):22829-22842