Environmental virology in Salta, Argentina

RAJAL, VERONICA BEATRIZ

Salta

Simposio; III Simposio Latinoamericano de Virología Ambiental (III-SILVA 2016); 2016

In 2005, the Laboratory of Water and Soils (Laboratorio de Aguas y Suelos, LAgS) at INIQUI began to assess the impact of microbial contamination of water on public health. After an epidemiological study of diarrhea and parasitosis in a borough of the city of Salta, we began to monitor bacterial indicators, parasites, and enteric viruses (adenovirus, enterovirus, and norovirus) in different aquatic environments. For example, such measurements - using both microscopic and molecular methods - obtained from the Arenales River, which intersects the city of Salta, were used to perform quantitative microbial risk assessment for the first time in the country. In 2007, we began expanding research to contaminated soils with a view towards bio¬remediation. This research line has been growing steadily ever since. In the meantime, other public health challenges have presented themselves over the years, and the 2009 flu pandemia offered the opportunity to collaborate for three years with the Ministry of Public Health in the Province in the diagnosis of Influenza A(H1N1). A new laboratory (in 2011), externally funded projects, and collaborations with both national and international multidisciplinary teams, have given us the impetus to continue growing as a research group, which currently comprises 25 people including postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, and technicians.