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Mysterious Covid-19 lineages in US sewers could offer clues to chronic infections
Jun 12, 2023
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/09/health/covid-wastewater-cryptic-lineages/index.html
CNN — As Covid-19 testing and other coronavirus tracking efforts peter out in the United States, wastewater surveillance has become the primary method to monitor early community spread of the virus. And there’s some evidence that close investigation of the findings could also help unravel some of the mysteries of long Covid.
Genetic sequencing of wastewater samples from sewer systems across the country has uncovered dozens of unique strains of the coronavirus, with multiple mutations in unusual combinations.
One possible explanation for these “cryptic lineages” is that they can be traced back to people who have been living with a chronic – and serious – Covid-19 infection for years.
In a recent preprint study, about two dozen researchers set out to understand the origin of these cryptic lineages by closely examining the evolution of one from Wisconsin. The lineage was linked to a single facility that served 30 people and was persistently present for more than a year. Additional data has told similar stories.