Biosellal joins the COMETE network, an environmental monitoring system adapted to the evolution of the threat

Biosellal has joined the COMETE network co-founded by the Bataillon des Marins Pompiers de Marseille (BMPM) and OpenHealth Company, with whom, we now collaborates. Their objective is to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the community wastewater. Biosellal contributes to the network, by providing PCR reagents for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants  Bio-T kit® SARS-CoV-2 UK & N501Y Variants, as well as supporting the laboratories, who  perform the analyses.

The concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater of a local authority is today, the earliest epidemiological monitoring indicator which, targeted on so-called "sensitive" sites, makes it possible to track the most exposed people.

Nowadays, more than 18,000 analyses of samples (air, wastewater, and surface) have been performed and the effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated in recent operations - notably in Moselle and Dunkirk - where two clusters were detected in accommodation for dependent elderly people (EHPAD). These clusters were avoided by tracing the contaminant.

This method allows a territorialization and an appropriate health response in real-time and is different from the individual detection of contamination which, in essence, comes later.

The challenge is to be able to monitor territories upstream and then escalate the alert system by more precise targeting and individualizing means, if necessary.

The COMETE method thus proposes a combined operational approach for local authorities. It may:

- be activated in less than 10 days,

- ensure immediate access to the analysis of results via a secure online platform by the authorized territorial stakeholders,

- provide them with a trend signal ahead of pressure on the health system (contamination, viral excretion, medical consultations, emergency room visits, etc.),

- provide them with a capacity for highly targeted action in a specific neighborhood or at a sensitive site.

While this environmental monitoring method was developed in Marseille by the BMPM - which has one of the 5 elite NRBCE units (Nuclear, Radiological, Biological, Chemical, and Explosive Risks) of the Civil Security Departement, the cities of Nice, Cannes, Toulon, Pau, Avignon, Briançon, as well as the Dordogne and Morbihan counties, have since joined the COMETE network.

This system allows us to pre-empt this crisis management and is particularly well adapted to monitoring the possible evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into digestive or systemic forms, as observed in veterinary medicine.