This Week in Virology TWiV Special: Searching plane poop for viruses
Oct 1, 2025
Elke Wollants, a lab manager at KU Leuven with expertise in wastewater surveillance, discusses her innovative study on analyzing airplane toilet waste for viruses. She details the logistics of collecting samples from high-risk flights, particularly from Beijing to Brussels, and reveals that about 60% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Beyond COVID-19, they explored other pathogens, including norovirus and bacteria. Looking ahead, Elke shares plans for enhanced surveillance techniques and the potential to detect various serious viruses, contributing significantly to public health.
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Why They Sampled Airplane Waste
- Elke Wollants describes a pilot project collecting airplane toilet wastewater to screen for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
- The project sampled flights from Beijing because China had large COVID waves and Europe wanted early surveillance.
How Samples Were Collected
- Elke explains how aircraft toilets empty into a holding tank containing disinfectant and how ground crews extract wastewater.
- The team rented a laboratory truck and collected one-liter samples when the tank was emptied into the sewer.
Processing Challenges And Best Kit
- The airplane wastewater was concentrated and odorous, requiring filtration to remove toilet paper before extraction.
- Qiagen viral purification performed best and they used CDC N1 RT-qPCR to quantify SARS-CoV-2.