Diagnóstico molecular alternativo, desenvolvimento e aplicação de biomaterial para remoção de SARS-CoV-2 em água

Abstract

In December 2019, the Chinese Center for Disease Control (China CDC) reported an outbreak of pneumonia in the city of Wuhan (Hubei province, China) that haunted the world, resulting in a global pandemic. This outbreak was caused by a betacoronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several of these cases were observed in health professionals who work in hospitals and provide care on the front line of the pandemic, so we produced the 1st chapter in which we investigated new techniques for rapid, accurate and low-cost molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 in healthcare professionals, based on the results obtained for specificity and sensitivity of the Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay (RT-LAMP), emerged as a rapid molecular diagnostic tool for COVID-19 in healthcare professionals. However, after the end of the pandemic caused by SARS-Cov-2, a new concern for controlling outbreaks from wastewater became necessary. Reports of the presence of resilient SARS-CoV-2 RNA in waters for a few days without complete degradation sparked interest in further research. Given this, the idea for chapters 2 and 3 in this work came up. In chapter 2, we aimed to remove SARS-CoV-2 from contaminated water using “in natura” the algae Hydrocotyle ranunculoides. This study demonstrated a considerable SARS-CoV-2 removal rate of 88.28% in water. In chapter 3, we sought to develop an experimental model to measure the reduction of SARSCoV-2 in water, and for this, a cryogel (C) incorporated with Rosa centifolia essential

oil (RCEO) was used. We found that cryogel incorporated with oil (RCEO) exhibited a

removal

of the amount of SARS-CoV-2 viral load present in the water after filtration, estimated to be a 32-fold reduction. Therefore, these studies cover the concerns that have affected the world due to the emergence, transmission and infection caused by SARS-CoV-2, with chapters 1, diagnosis of COVID-19 and Chapters 2 and 3 highlight the use of natural compounds as an excellent alternative for reducing and decontaminating SARS-COV-2 in water.