Wastewater tests reveal variant of coronavirus in 2 Oregon cities

Oregon researchers have detected the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 in Grants Pass and McMinnville. The variant, which was first detected in the UK, is around 50% more contagious and likely causes more serious illness than the coronavirus that initially triggered the pandemic.

When people have COVID-19, they “spread” the coronavirus when they use the bathroom. This waste ends up in sewer systems where it can be collected and used to determine if there is coronavirus in the community. Samples can also be analyzed to determine which variants are present.

For several months now, researchers at Oregon State University have been sequencing coronaviruses collected from wastewater samples from cities across the state.

“Our most recent wastewater monitoring identified B.1.1.7 in Grants Pass and McMinnville and weak and possible signals in Albany and Forest Grove, so it’s definitely there,” said Brett Tyler, director of the OSU Center. for genome and biocomputing research, during a briefing with journalists on Tuesday.

Despite detections in the wastewater stream in these communities, it is difficult to determine the true prevalence of the variant.

“You don’t get a perfectly uniform sample of the community. It depends on who flushed the toilet at the exact moment the autosampler was sipping sewage, ”Tyler said.

But the Oregon state team linked their sewage findings to the results of community door-to-door testing in many places. By using the relationship between the two, researchers are able to make estimates.

For example, Tyler says in Grants Pass, 94% of the virus they tested from the samples was the B.1.1.7 variant. He estimates that between 1 and 5 people in 1,000 people are infected with the variant.

As of Tuesday, the CDC only reported that 16 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant have been confirmed in Oregon, but these latest findings suggest the number of actual cases is much higher.

Although more infectious, research shows that the B.1.1.7 variant should still be controlled by the current crop of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We’re in a race between these variants and the immunization schedule, and anything we can do to help this immunization schedule move forward, we should do it,” Tyler said.