His team, which specializes in wastewater epidemiology, has been identifying different pathogens in wastewater for decades. “So, this is the novel thing when we look at the scientific point of view of the publication.” “The idea behind this publication is to show how the data that we can generate from the wastewater can be used later on for predictions,” Kushmaro said. The novel results of Kushmaro’s study are that it now appears that surveillance can be used not only to track the virus in real-time but to help predict the future. Israel and South Africa are two among several dozen of countries around the world engaging in cutting-edge wastewater surveillance for COVID-19. The thing is that it can mutate and change in a short period of time. “We need to raise awareness and encourage the public to continue vaccinating and to get those who are vaccinated to take a booster shot.” South Africa Omicron vs Delta, NICD January 2022 ‘Gigabytes of data running just under the city’ “So, we are saying there is no need to panic, and no new variants found in the country. “For now, we are not detecting other variants,” stressed Mohale. But health officials are still urging people to get vaccinated to ward off possible future threats. However, so far, the predominant variants identified seem to be two Omicron subvariants – BA.4 and BA.5 – and not Delta. Added Mohale, “This can be used as an early indicator of COVID-19 case trends within a community.” “By testing wastewater weekly, we can measure the SARS-CoV-2 RNA signal and see whether it is increasing or decreasing,” states SAMRC. South Africa also has a wastewater surveillance program – the SAMRC Wastewater Surveillance and Research Programme – which has been monitoring sewage for the virus. ![]() According to Foster Mohale, director of media relations for the Johannesburg, South Africa National Department of Health, there have been peaks of up to 10,000 new cases daily, although the average is somewhat lower. South Africa is already seeing a surge in new cases in recent weeks. ![]() In the meantime, the Delta, which is still circulating in a population with waning immunity and under fewer restrictions, may reemerge in larger numbers or even produce a new, different variant to generate infections in Israel.” Sewage – ‘An early indicator’ “With the expected significant decline in morbidity from all the recovered Omicron cases, the Israeli government and Ministry of Health will most likely remove various restrictions. “If the essence of the model predictions … will be proven accurate, the Delta variant has the potential of becoming far more problematic than the Omicron,” the researchers wrote in their paper. ![]() The findings were published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science of the Total Environment. They then built a model that predicts that while Omicron is burning itself out, Delta is just biding its time. ![]() The study monitoring sewage in Beersheba – Israel’s fourth-most populous metropolitan area – between December 2021 and January 2022 found that while Delta had wiped out the variants that preceded it, Omicron did not eliminate Delta even at the height of the Omicron wave. “Of course, there are a lot of factors involved, but our model indicates there could be another outbreak of Delta or another coronavirus variant this summer,” said BGU’s Prof Ariel Kushmaro, last author on the study. The warning comes following last month’s peak in new cases in China, followed by rising coronavirus cases now in South Africa as it heads into chilly weather, while uptake of COVID vaccines remains sluggish. While the Omicron COVID-19 variant appears to be diminishing, it is possible that there could be a resurgence of the Delta variant in the coming months in some countries, according to a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev studying the prevalence of SARS-CoV2 virus variants in sewage. “Swabbing” a sewage bore near the beach in Israel for SARS-CoV2 a new sewage study finds Delta still circulating cryptically.
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