Freedom of Information request on the sewage screening in the UK (FOI 22/793)
Published 21 December 2023
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FOI 22/793
19th July 2022
Dear
Thank you for your information request, dated 1st July 2022, where you asked for
information under Freedom of Information related to sewage screening in the UK.
I am pleased to provide you with the response below.
1.Since 2017, where has routine sewage screening for diseases taken place in the UK? Please give the information by location and year (in calendar years).
The MHRA team has undertaken its routine surveillance for evidence of polio virus in sewage from Becton, London and Glasgow as part of its WHO-associated collaborating centre activity. This is performed throughout the year. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the team has undertaken wastewater testing for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in samples from Becton, London. In each case, the surveillance identifies evidence of virus genetic material, not the disease, which can only be confirmed by studying samples from human clinical cases.
2.Since 2017, what diseases has MHRA routinely screened for via the NIBSC in the UK sewage system? Please state each disease screened for, broken down by year.
As above. Disease can only be confirmed through clinical samples from people. Detection of virus or virus genetic material from wastewater is undertaken. Finding virus or virus genetic material in wastewater is not evidence of disease.
3.Since 2017, what diseases has MHRA screened for via the NIBSC in the UK sewage system under emergency or one-off circumstances? Please state each disease screened for, broken down by year.
No ‘emergency’ testing has been undertaken. The SARS-CoV-2 testing has been performed since the COVID-19 pandemic started
[https://nibsc.org/about_us/latest_news/variant_ay.4.2.aspx](https://nibsc.org/about_us/latest_news/variant_ay.4.2.aspx)
Testing for polio vaccine-related genetic material has been expanded to ‘upstream’ sites from Becton, London since May 2021 – this is standard process in cases where such material is identified. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/testing-and-sequencing-of-sewage-ramped-up-to-help-tackle-covid-19-outbreaks
4.Since 2017, how many positive detections of those diseases from question 2 have been detected each year and where. Please break the information down by year, location and disease.
For example, in 2017 1 positive detection of polio was found in a sewer system in Lewisham. In 2018 5 positive polio samples were found in a sewer in Glasgow.
Wild type polio has not been detected in our surveillance of waste water from Becton, London or Glasgow. On occasion, genetic material that is derived from vaccines can be detected, since some types can be excreted: these are not disease-causing. Information on recent detection of vaccine derived poliovirus genetic material is in the public domain - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/poliovirus-detected-in-sewage-from-north-and-east-london
Data from surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 genetic material are published: this is not whole virus and thus not disease-causing. We have detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA signals in wastewater throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Yours sincerely
MHRA Customer Experience Centre