Neglected Tropical Diseases

Gemma Langridge of Quadram Institute Bioscience in the United Kingdom, along with co-investigators Aaron Jenkins of the University of Sydney in Australia and France Daigle of the University of Montreal in Canada, will collect different isolates of S. Typhi, which causes typhoid fever, to analyze genomic structure, growth, and gene expression to better understand how it can survive at low levels in water, and determine how it can be reactivated for monitoring. Typhoid fever is a potentially fatal disease associated with exposure to contaminated water. S.

Andrew Jackson of the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom will determine whether the amoeba, Acanthamoeba, which is commonly found in water and soil, acts as a host for Salmonella Typhi bacteria, which cause typhoid fever, to support growth and disease spread in Malawi. Typhoid fever is a systemic, potentially fatal illness, usually contracted by consuming contaminated drinking water. An estimated 11-21 million cases occur worldwide each year.

France Daigle of the University of Montreal in Canada will identify the microorganisms that enable the survival of the typhoid fever-causing bacterium, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, at low levels in water, and thereby enhances disease spread. Typhoid fever spreads through contaminated food and water, and results in over 125,000 deaths annually worldwide. S. Typhi are so-called auxotrophic bacteria because they rely on an external source of the essential amino acids that they need to grow.

Rajeev Shrestha and colleagues at Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University in Nepal will apply metagenomic, next generation sequencing technology to identify causative pathogens of fatal acute encephalitis to improve diagnosis and treatment. Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) annually affects over 100,000 individuals in low- and middle-income countries, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. It is a diverse disease caused by over 100 different pathogens, including viruses and parasites, making accurate diagnosis difficult, even in high-resource settings.

Nguyen Thanh Hung and colleagues in Children’s Hospital 1 in Vietnam will implement next generation sequencing to identify the diverse viral causes of encephalitis in children in Vietnam and develop more accurate and rapid diagnostics to improve clinical outcomes. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain commonly caused by viral infection and is a major contributor to childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. Treatment requires rapid diagnosis so that the appropriate antimicrobial therapy can be administered.

David Aanensen from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom and Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization in Switzerland will combine next generation DNA sequencing technology with a simple, web-based data collection, processing, and distribution platform to better track the global spread of deadly infectious diseases including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). MERS - also known as camel flu - is a viral disease that causes fever, cough, diarrhea, and shortness of breath, and is transmitted from camels to humans.

Achim Hoerauf of IMMP in Germany will apply artificial intelligence (AI) to speed the development of treatments for onchocerciasis, which is an infectious disease commonly known as River Blindness caused by a parasitic worm. The parasites are spread by affected blackflies, and the worm larvae accumulate in the skin and eyes, causing irritation and sometimes blindness. Nearly 21 million cases occur each year, and 99% of affected people live in Africa.

Samantha Dolan and Peter Rabinowitz of the University of Washington in the U.S., and Ian Njeru of I-TECH Kenya, will improve digital data collection and monitoring of childhood immunizations at Kenyan health facilities by optimizing workflows. Using electronic tools to track immunizations has the potential to improve the accuracy of data collection and reporting, identify children who have not been vaccinated, and free up time for health care workers. To fully realize this potential, workflow patterns need optimizing for different types of health facilities.

Understanding dengue virulence is the key to design better vaccine. We will combine a novel virus-construction tool with existing high-throughput assays to effectively search for new vaccine candidates that account for relevant immune response.

Edwin Routledge of Brunel University in the United Kingdom will work towards developing an artificial snail decoy to attract the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, which causes chronic disease. The parasites first develop inside aquatic snails, which they locate via chemical cues (chemoattractants), before they can infect humans. Routledge will identify the relevant chemoattractants by isolating and fractionating chemicals from the snails, and test the ability of these chemicals to attract the parasites.