LMU searches for corona variants in Bavaria's wastewater - Holetschek: Results "decisive" for autumn

Created: 07/23/2022, 10:46 am

By: Sebastian Horsch

Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek on Friday in an exchange with the researchers in the laboratory for genome analysis at the LMU.

© Hirschberger/dpa

Toilets don't lie.

LMU researchers are looking for variants of the coronavirus in our wastewater.

Bavaria's Minister of Health considers her findings to be "crucial" with a view to autumn. 

Munich – It usually starts with a small message that a new variant of the corona virus has appeared somewhere in the world.

Experts say it needs to be watched.

A few months later, nobody is talking about the virus discovery anymore.

Or, like Delta, Omikron or BA.5, it occupies the whole world.

If that happens, it becomes a case for the researchers at the LMU Gene Center, who keep an eye on the spread of "variants of concern".

They also look where most people prefer to keep a safe distance: in our waste water.

Because what the Bavarians flush down the toilet contains traces of almost every viral disease - even if the person affected does not even know that they have it.

Munich researchers are researching corona variants in Bavaria's wastewater

Wastewater is taken “by the liter” from the sewage system for the analysis, explains scientist Stefan Krebs.

Virus particles are separated from the liquid using filters and an ultracentrifuge.

"The RNA is then isolated from this," says Krebs - the genetic profile of every virus, so to speak.

Because the real virus should not leave the virological safety laboratory, its RNA is transcribed into a DNA copy and brought to the gene center, according to Krebs.

This is where his work begins.

In a multi-stage process that requires different employees and equipment, the virus copy is prepared for so-called sequencing in one to two days of laboratory work.

This process can then take up to 72 hours.

"But we can dynamically decide when our result is accurate enough for us to draw conclusions from it," says Krebs.

And if it is really urgent, faster methods can also be used.

When it came to examining the passengers of a plane from South Africa for the omicron variant in November last year, the first results were available after seven hours.

LMU is looking for corona variants in Bavaria's wastewater: Holetschek calls the results "crucial" for the fall

So far, wastewater has been taken for samples at ten points in Bavaria.

In Munich, Ebersberg, Altötting, Weiden, Hof, Schweinfurt, Würzburg, in the Berchtesgadener Land, in the city and in the district of Augsburg.

Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) announced an expansion yesterday.

It is planned that “at least one” will be added in each administrative district in the future.

In order to increase the database, Bay-VOC is also being expanded.

The network, in which the virological institutes of the university medicine are connected to the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL), is to be interlinked with wastewater monitoring, among other things.

Holetschek, who took a picture of the work at the gene center for himself on Friday, July 22, called the knowledge gained there "crucial" with a view to the autumn.

"What is developing?

What is in store for us?” The more precisely politicians know about this, the better they can make decisions.

In addition to Corona, the scientists should also keep an eye on the development of influenza viruses in autumn.

also read

Heavy thunderstorms are moving over southern Bavaria in the evening – it's cracking in these districts

Ranking: The most livable small towns in Germany – 23 out of 30 are in Bavaria

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)

Munich researchers “test” for Corona via the toilet

In the colder season there will "without a doubt" be new corona waves, says Oliver Keppler, head of the Max von Pettenkofer Institute at the LMU and Bay VOC spokesman.

"We mustn't fool ourselves." Corona is "still active." But nobody can predict which variants will soon prevail.

"The pandemic has surprised us again and again."

Keppler believes that the number of infections is already being underestimated far more than is commonly assumed.

Because of the decline in tests, the official values ​​have lost their meaningfulness.

Keppler assumes that there are unreported cases in the range of two to ten times as much.

The weakness of the number of reports shows the advantages of the wastewater analysis even more clearly.

Because even if you don't get tested, you'll have to go to the toilet at some point.

All news and stories from Bavaria can now also be found on our brand new Facebook page Merkur Bayern.