Browsing by Author "Kwiatkowska, Rachel"

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    Monitoring occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in school populations: a wastewater-based approach
    (PLOS (Public Library of Science), 2022-06-17) Castro-Gutierrez, Victor; Hassard, Francis; Vu, Milan; Leitao, Rodrigo; Burczynska, Beata; Wildeboer, Dirk; Stanton, Isobel; Rahimzadeh, Shadi; Baio, Gianluca; Garelick, Hemda; Hofman, Jan; Kasprzyk-Hordern, Barbara; Kwiatkowska, Rachel; Majeed, Azeem; Priest, Sally; Grimsley, Jasmine; Lundy, Lian; Singer, Andrew C.; Di Cesare, Mariachiara
    Clinical testing of children in schools is challenging, with economic implications limiting its frequent use as a monitoring tool of the risks assumed by children and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, a wastewater-based epidemiology approach has been used to monitor 16 schools (10 primary, 5 secondary and 1 post-16 and further education) in England. A total of 296 samples over 9 weeks have been analysed for N1 and E genes using qPCR methods. Of the samples returned, 47.3% were positive for one or both genes with a detection frequency in line with the respective local community. WBE offers a low cost, non-invasive approach for supplementing clinical testing and can provide longitudinal insights that are impractical with traditional clinical testing.