Neglected Tropical Diseases

Jane Whitton of Schistosomiasis Control Initiative in the United Kingdom will test whether grouping treatments for three neglected tropical diseases alongside motivating people to come for the treatments by offering incentives such as free shoes or free school meals can increase coverage and better reduce disease incidence. Current treatment campaigns for different diseases run in parallel, requiring multiple clinic visits, which is inconvenient.

Felix Lankester of Washington State University in the U.S. will determine whether integrating a mass drug administration campaign targeting soil-transmitted helminth infections with a mass dog rabies vaccination campaign reduces costs and extends treatment coverage for these diseases, which are endemic in Tanzania. Collaborators include: Safari Kinunghi - National Institute of Medical Research, Tanzania, Sarah Cleaveland - University of Glasgow and Deborah Watson Jones - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Glenn Morris of the University of Florida in the U.S. will evaluate different strategies for integrating three national disease elimination programs against lymphatic filariasis, malaria and cholera, which are currently being run in parallel in Haiti. These campaigns involve improving water, sanitation and hygiene, and providing insecticide-treated bed nets. They are funded and coordinated by different departments and each target a specific disease. Integrating them could improve their effectiveness and reduce associated costs.

Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuente of the Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology in Cameroon will work to eliminate one species of the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma that causes severe disease in certain regions of Cameroon. They will intensify current school-based mass drug administration efforts in the Litteral region to increase treatment coverage to individuals of all ages.

Hussein Abdullahi of Wajir County Government in Kenya will combine a mass drug administration effort to treat soil-transmitted helminth (parasitic worm) infections in Wajir County with a survey of the number of cases of visceral leishmaniasis, which is transmitted by sand flies. Visceral leishmaniasis can be lethal and has recently become endemic in this poor Kenyan county, but the actual disease burden is unknown.

Miriam Laufer of the University Maryland in the U.S. will boost malaria treatment and control in Malawi by linking it with a school-based mass drug administration program for other neglected tropical diseases, and improve uptake by engaging school children to reach those not attending school. School-aged children carry one of the highest burdens of malaria infection so disease campaigns should also directly target schools. However, there is a high frequency of school absence in Malawi.

Jessa Gitaka of Mount Kenya University in Kenya will work to integrate surveillance and control of three diseases - malaria, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths - in five Lake Victoria islands where these diseases are highly prevalent. This should improve cost-effectiveness and promote greater participation. They have already established facilities and systems to semi-annually survey malaria in the region, which includes a 30-person motorboat to access the islands, a parasitology laboratory and trained personnel.

Gilbert Saint Jean of the University of Notre Dame in the U.S. will promote the consumption of salt fortified with both iodine, which is essential for child and maternal health, and the drug DEC, which is used to treat the parasitic disease lymphatic filariasis, in Haiti. Haitian emigrants residing in the U.S. frequently purchase food vouchers via money transfer company websites for their families in Haiti. The researchers will partner with food remittance companies to build on this system and offer vouchers for their tested DEC-iodized cooking salt.

Gong Cheng of Tsinghua University in China will develop a transmission-blocking vaccine against dengue virus that takes advantage of blocking mosquito infection by targeting the transmission from human to mosquito.

Shan Feng of Tsinghua University in China will develop a novel reagent called DCAF to eliminate antibody-dependence-enhanced (ADE) Dengue virus infection. DCAF stands for Dual-functional Conjugate of Antigenic peptide and Fc-III tag, which is designed for the blocking of cross-reactive antibodies that can enhance secondary infection of Dengue virus. In the current phase, they will synthesize a group of DCAF molecules to test their binding affinities with the antibodies of Dengue virus 2 and to evaluate whether these molecules can be used to block the ADE process.