Aldo Gaggero

University of Chile · Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICBM)

Sewage surveillance provides useful epidemiologic and public health information on viral infections at the population level. We detected monkeypox virus DNA from sewage samples covering 85% of the population in Santiago Metropolitan Region Chile. We also isolated infective viruses from those samples. Wastewater surveillance could complement clinica...

Antarctica is a unique environment due to its extreme meteorological and geological conditions. In addition to this, its relative isolation from human influences has kept it undisturbed. This renders our limited understanding of its fauna and its associated microbial and viral communities a relevant knowledge gap to fill. This includes members of t...

Objectives: Hepatitis A (HAV) virus causes asymptomatic to life-treating fulminant hepatitis. During infection, patients show large viral excretion in their stools. Resistance of HAV to environmental conditions, allows us to recover viral nucleotide sequences from wastewater and trace its evolutionary history. Methods: We characterize twelve yea...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater from WWTPs became an interesting source of epidemiological surveillance. However, there is uncertainty about the influence of treatment type on virus removal. The aim of this study was to assess viral surveillance within wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) based on different biological treatments. Seasonal m...

Introducción: La cuantificación de SARS-CoV-2 en aguas residuales es una herramienta que permite determinar la tendencia de la circulación viral en un área geográfica determinada. Objetivo: Cuantificar el virus SARS-CoV-2 en 15 plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales en diferentes ciudades de Chile para establecer una comparación con las variab...

SARS-CoV-2 variant Lambda was dominant in several South American countries, including Chile. To ascertain the efficacy of local vaccination efforts, we used pseudotyped viruses to characterize the neutralization capacity of antibodies elicited by CoronaVac (n = 53) and BNT162b2 (n = 56) in healthcare workers from Clínica Santa María and the Faculty...

Bats are widespread mammals of the order Chiroptera. They are key for ecosystem functioning , participating in crucial processes. Their unique ability amongst mammals to fly long distances , their frequently large population sizes, and their longevity favor infectious agent persistence and spread. This includes a large variety of viruses, encompass...

Here, we used pseudotyped viruses to characterize the neutralization capacity of antibodies elicited by the CoronaVac and BNT162b2 vaccines against the emerging variant of interest Lambda. We observed that BNT162b2 elicits higher neutralizing antibody titers than CoronaVac, ranging from 5.8-fold for the ancestral spike to 9.4-fold for the Lambda va...

The Study SARS-CoV-2 has generated over 122 million cases worldwide. Non-pharmaceuticals interventions such as confinements and lockdowns started in Chile on March 18 th 2020. In Europe, confinements and lockdowns have been accompanied by a decrease in the circulation of other respiratory viruses such as Influenza A virus(IAV), Influenza B virus(IB...

Background The newly described SARS-CoV-2 lineage C.37 was recently classified as a variant of interest by the WHO (Lambda variant) based on its high circulation rates in South American countries and the presence of critical mutations in the spike protein. The impact of such mutations in infectivity and immune escape from neutralizing antibodies ar...

Screening, testing and contact tracing plays a pivotal role in the control of COVID-19 pandemic. To carry out this strategy it is necessary to increase the testing capacity. Here, we compared a SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test (RAT) and RT-PCR in 842 asymptomatic individuals from Tarapacá, Chile. We report a sensitivity of 69.86%, a specificity of 99....

Screening, testing and contact tracing plays a pivotal role in the control of COVID-19 pandemic. To carry out this strategy it is necessary to increase the testing capacity. Here, we compared a SARS CoV-2 rapid antigen test (RAT) and RT-PCR in 842 asymptomatic individuals from Tarapaca, Chile. We report a sensibility of 69.86%, a specificity of 99....

Chile has one of the worst numbers worldwide in terms of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases and COVID-19–related deaths per million inhabitants; thus, characterization of neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses in the general population is critical to understanding of immunity at the local level. Given our inability to perform massive classical neutralization...

Background: Noroviruses are nonenveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the Caliciviridae family; they cause high-profile outbreaks in healthcare settings, due to their contagiousness, prolonged viral shedding, and ability to survive in the environment. Methods: Description of a norovirus outbreak in a pediatric ICU with multibed rooms....

Sewage-associated viruses can cause several human and animal diseases, such as gastroenteritis, hepatitis, and respiratory infections. Therefore, their detection in wastewater can reflect current infections within the source population. To date, no viral study has been performed using the sewage of any large South American city. In this study, we u...

The current COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a threat to the population worldwide with over 21 million infected people. There is an urgent need for the development of rapid and massive detection tools as well as the identification and isolation of infected individuals. we sought to evaluate different RT-qPCR kits and protocols to evaluate the best app...

The detection of viruses in sewage is a method of environmental surveillance, which allows evaluating the circulation of different viruses in a community. This study presents the first results of sewage surveillance to detect the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Santiago, Chile. Using ultracentrifugation associated with RT-qPCR, we detected SARS-...

The role of meteorological factors in the transmission of the COVID-19 still needs to be determined. In this study, the daily new cases of the eight severely affected regions in four countries of South America and their corresponding meteorological data (average temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, average wind speed, visibility,...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reached more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Given the large requirement of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and considering that RNA extraction kits are in short supply, we investigated whether two commercial RT-qPCR kits were compatible with direct SARS-CoV-2 detection from nasopharyngeal swab samples. We show...

Background The role of human polyomaviruses (HPyVs) in epithelial tumors such as head and neck carcinomas (HNSCCs) including oral and oropharyngeal carcinomas has not been established. In this study, we evaluated for the first time the presence of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), BK human polyomavirus (BKPyV), and JC human polyomavirus (JCPyV) in...

We have previously shown that infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) enters the embryo cell line CHSE‐214 by macropinocytosis. In this study, we have extended our investigation into SHK‐1 cells, a macrophage‐like cell line derived from the head kidney of Atlantic salmon, the most economically important host of IPNV. We show that IPNV infection...

Human polyomavirus JC (JCPyV) is a widely distributed viral agent and because it high resistance against environmental conditions it is frequently recovered from diverse sources of water and is considered a good marker for human pollution. Phylogenetic analysis of JCPyV isolated in different part of the world has revealed 7 genotypes, which have be...

Human polyomaviruses (HPyV), which are small DNA viruses classified into the polyomaviridae family, are widely distributed in human populations. Thirteen distinct HPyVs have been described to date. Some of these viruses have been found in human tumors, suggesting an etiological relationship with cancer. In particular, convincing evidence of an onco...

Forty-six years after the identification of the first polyomaviruses in humans (PyV) still there are strong concerns to find new types related to pathologies of different organs in immunocompromised patients. At the time of this review, 15 PyV have been described, many of them without being clearly associated with diseases. In our country, as in mu...

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) is a non-enveloped virus belonging to the Birnaviridae family. IPNV produces an acute disease in salmon fingerlings, with high mortality rates and persistent infection in survivors. Although there are reports of IPNV binding to various cells, the viral receptor and entry pathways remain unknown. The aim o...

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) is a non-enveloped virus belonging to the Birnaviridae family. IPNV produces an acute disease in salmon fingerlings, with high mortality rates and persistent infection in survivors. Although there are reports of IPNV binding to various cells, the viral receptor and entry pathways remain unknown. The aim o...

Rotavirus A is one of the main causative agents of diarrhea in lactating and weaned pigs worldwide. Its impact in the swine industry is well documented. However, in Chile the current epidemiological status of rotavirus in porcine farms is unknown. This study evaluated the current epidemiologic status of rotavirus A infection in Chile using on-farm...

Introduction: Polyomavirus BK (BKPyV) and JC (JCPyV) are persistent pathogens able to reactivate in immunocompromised patients, involving mostly urinary and central nervous system. There are no Chilean studies in HIV positive patients. Objective: To detect BKPyV and JCPyV in blood of Chilean HIV positive adult patients and to correlate these result...

Introduction: Polyomavirus BK (BKPyV) and JC (JCPyV) are persistent pathogens able to reactivate in im-munocompromised patients, involving mostly urinary and central nervous system. There are no Chilean studies in HIV positive patients. Objective: To detect BKPyV and JCPyV in blood of Chilean HIV positive adult patients and to correlate these re...

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV) alone or associated to rhinovirus (RV) in the infant has been linked with more likelihood to develop asthma and atopy. Aim: Analyze clinical and immunological markers of patients with RSV or RV bronchiolitis that determine their evolution. Patients and Methods: We studied previously healthy in...

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus (HRV) respiratory infection in children induce production of inflammatory interleukins (ILs) in the respiratory epithelium. As IL(s) determine the severity of illness, the purpose of this study was to identify the pro-inflammatory IL(s) that could be predictor(s) of clinical severity. One hundr...

Background: A few viruses have been detected in prostate cancer, however their role in the development of this malignancy has not been determined. The aim of this study was to analyze the presence and functionality of human papillomavirus (HPV) and polyomaviruses (BKPyV and JCPyV) in prostate carcinomas in Chilean patients. Methods: Sixty-nine prim...

Introduction: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Human Rhinovirus (HRV) are the main cause of bronquiolitis in children below two years of age. The severity of these infections has been related to later development of recurrent wheezing. Recently a role for Haemophilus influenzae in severe RSV or RSV/HRV co infection has been reported. The main...

Background: It has been linked respiratory viral infection in infancy with more likelihood of developing asthma and atopy. The aim of this ongoing study is to analyze the clinical markers of patients hospitalized for bronchiolitis that determine their evolution. Patients and methods: Previously healthy infants hospitalized by bronchiolitis during 2...

Citation: Montero D, Bodero M, Riveros G, Lapierre L, Gaggero A, Vidal RM and Vidal M (2015) Molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from a wide variety of ready-to-eat foods and their relationship to clinical strains from listeriosis outbreaks in Chile. Front. Microbiol. 6:384. Molecular epidemiology and gen...

We detected human bocavirus in 89 (19.3%) of 462 fecal samples collected during 3 periods from 1985 through 2010 from children <5 years of age in Chile who were hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis. Our findings confirm the long-term circulation of human bocavirus in Chile.

Background: An increased inflammatory innate response may play a role in pathogenesis of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. Aim: To quantify pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6-IL-8, ÍL-2-P and TNF-a) in nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) and plasma, and plasma cortisol in previously healthy infants with RSV bronchiolitis. Patients and method...

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