Vízügyi Közlemények, 2021 (103. évfolyam)
2021 / 2. szám - Introduction by the editors
Vízügyi Közlemények, Cili. évfolyam 2021. évi 2. füzet INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITORS The years 2020-2021 - most probably- have left deep signs in the life of all of us due to the events and happenings of the coronavirus pandemic. During the editing of this volume, we go through the fourth wave of the COVID-19 with thousands of troubles, difficulties and even tragical news. We launch this volume with a paper strongly linked to the pandemic. The associates of the National Health Centre (NKK) present in their paper titled “The new tool for handling pandemic: wastewater-based epidemiology’’ has been used in Hungary - among the first ones internationally - since May 2020. They detect the dead particles of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from the wastewater samples. It has long been known that diverse information on the health of the population can be extracted from the wastewater, but this method has come into the limelight in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The composition of the wastewater is in many aspects the proof of the health state of the population. Even before the symptoms of the SARS-COVID-2 appear they start to drain with the excrement thus the pandemic situation can be followed by monitoring the wastewater. The study presents the process of sampling, transport, processing the samples and the procedure of evaluation. The 26 sewage treatment plants serve 3.9 million thus approximately 40% inhabitants of the country. The associates of the sewage treatment plants take samples weekly while the chilled transport is provided by the government offices. The processing of the samples starts within 24 hours in the NKK. The authors present the relation between concentration of the virus particles in the wastewater and the number of infected persons. The results support the decision making in the pandemic. The method besides the trend analysis offer possibility for forecasting too, well before the patients appear in the health care service. The international and the national experiences show that rising of the virus concentration in the wastewater forecasts the rising of the infected persons with a couple day - 2 weeks ahead. As of October 2021, the European Union issued a recommendation for all member states to launch wastewater-based monitoring network. The monitoring should be sustained for a long time and most probably it will be part of the urban wastewater directive. Most probably, the wastewater-based epidemiology will be a key methodology not only in the case of COVID-19 but also in that of the future pandemics. As far as we know this is the first such publication in Hungarian from Hungarian authors.
