Valentina Hergatacorzian

Ms. Valentina Hergatacorzian


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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27 September 2023 in Viruses
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Florencia CancelaFlorencia Cancela
Florencia Cancela
RIRomina Icasuriaga
Romina Icasuriaga
Santiago Gonzalo CuevasSantiago Gonzalo Cuevas
Santiago Gonzalo Cuevas
VHValentina Hergatacorzian
Valentina Hergatacorzian
Mauricio OliveraMauricio Olivera
Mauricio Olivera
Santiago MirazoSantiago Mirazo
Santiago Mirazo
Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) infection is an emergent zoonotic disease of increasing concern in developed regions. HEV genotype 3 (HEV-3) is mainly transmitted through consumption of contaminated food in high-income countries and is classified into at least 13 subtypes (3a–3n), based on p-distance values from complete genomes. In Latin America, HEV epidemiology studies are very scant. Our group has previously detected HEV3 in clinical cases, swine, wild boars, captive white-collared peccaries, and spotted deer from Uruguay. Herein, we aimed to provide novel insights and an updated overview of the molecular epidemiology of zoonotic HEV in Uruguay, including data from wastewater-based surveillance studies. A thorough analysis of HEV whole genomes and partial ORF2 sequences from Uruguayan human and domestic pig strains showed that they formed a separate monophyletic cluster with high nucleotide identity and exhibited p-distance values over the established cut-off (0.093) compared with reference subtypes’ sequences. Furthermore, we found an overall prevalence of 10.87% (10/92) in wastewater, where two samples revealed a close relationship with humans, and animal reservoirs/hosts isolates from Uruguay. In conclusion, a single, new HEV-3 subtype currently circulates in different epidemiological settings in Uruguay, and we propose its designation as 3o along with its reference sequence.