Filenews 2 February 2023
The Medical and Public Health Services (IY &PSO) of the Ministry of Health and the Laboratory of Environmental and Technical Water Processes & Systems-GAIA (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering / Nireas International Water Research Center) of the University of Cyprus, have entered into a collaboration on February 1, 2023, with the aim of starting the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in aircraft wastewater and international airports of Cyprus for a total duration of 3 months.
The cooperation agreement was signed on behalf of IY & PSO by the Director, Dr. Elisavet Constantinou and on behalf of the University of Cyprus the Head of the Research Support Service, Dr. Marios Dimitriadis.
The need for the implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 monitoring system in the wastewater of Larnaka and Pafos International Airports on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus, arose following the issuance of a recommendation by the European Commission (EU), which strongly urges the Member States to put in place as soon as possible, a national system for monitoring the wastewater of their International Airports and wastewater of arriving aircraft, with the aim of collecting data on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.
The Director of Medical and Public Health Services of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Elizabeth Constantinou, said that epidemiological surveillance includes new methodologies of approaching and obtaining information through wastewater surveillance, as an indirect way of monitoring the prevalence of viruses in the community. Triggered by the surveillance of wastewater related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the know-how that will be acquired through this collaboration, the Medical and Public Health Services of the Ministry of Health, look forward to a larger community surveillance program, which will concern other viruses or bacteria.
For her part, Dr. Popi Karaolia, postdoctoral researcher at the International Water Research Center "Nireas" and researcher at the Project, said that through the determination of the concentrations of the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 using the molecular method of the quantitative polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcription (RT-qPCR), the "imported" SARS-CoV-2 load on the territory of Cyprus will be recorded through the flights and airports, while through next-generation sequencing, the content of the main variants of the virus originating from other countries will be captured.
Professor Dr. Despo Fatta-Kassinou, responsible for the implementation of the project on behalf of the University of Cyprus, stressed that the implementation of this cooperation demonstrates the importance of wastewater analysis in the monitoring of diseases / epidemics and that this cooperation paves the way for the further development of such a public health monitoring system, which will take into account more indicators of health and habits of the displaced population.
Dr Kassinou expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Health, the Department of Civil Aviation, the Ground Handlers: LGS Handling, Swissport, Skylink, the Water Development Department, the Larnaca and Paphos Sewerage Boards, the airport security provider ICTS Hellas, as well as the managing company of the two airports Hermes.
