Browsing by Author "Ampuero, Manuel"

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    Monkeypox Virus in Wastewater Samples from Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile
    (2023) Ampuero, Manuel; Martinez-Valdebenito, Constanza; Ferres, Marcela; Soto-Rifo, Ricardo; Gaggero, Aldo
    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 clinical surveillance for monkeypox virus.
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    Performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test compared with real-time RT-PCR in asymptomatic individuals
    (2021) Pena, Monica; Ampuero, Manuel; Garces, Carlos; Gaggero, Aldo; Garcia, Patricia; Soledad Velasquez, Maria; Luza, Ricardo; Alvarez, Pia; Paredes, Fabio; Acevedo, Johanna; Farfan, Mauricio J.; Solari, Sandra; Soto-Rifo, Ricardo; Valiente-Echeverria, Fernando
    Screening, testing and contact tracing plays a pivotal role in control of the COVID-19 pandemic. To enable this it is necessary to increase the testing capacity. This study compared a SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test (RAT) and RT-PCR in 842 asymptomatic individuals from Tarapaca, Chile. A sensitivity of 69.86%, specificity of 99.61%, PPV of 94.44% and NPP of 97.22% with Ct values (Ct > 27) that were significantly higher among individuals with false-negative RAT were reported. These results support the fact that RAT might have a significant impact on the identification of asymptomatic carriers in areas that lack suitable laboratories to perform SARS-CoV-2 real-time RT-PCR diagnostics, or the results take more than 24-48 h, as well as zones with high traffic of individuals such as border/customs, airports, interregional bus, train stations or in any mass testing campaign requiring rapid results.