School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine

Dr Tiziana Lembo

Contact details

Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
University of Glasgow
Glasgow

Tel: +44 (0)141 330 6638

Email: Tiziana.Lembo@glasgow.ac.uk

Research interests

I am a field veterinary scientist with an interest in applied infectious disease epidemiology in complex multi-host environments. I focus primarily on pathogens affecting the health and livelihoods of marginalised communities in low- and middle-income countries, as well as diseases of conservation concern.

My research draws on a wide range of disciplines, and conventional and contemporary analytical tools to:

1. Understand  disease dynamics so to design effective strategies to reduce the burden of disease on human and animal populations;
2. Investigate social, cultural and economic processes influencing community practices towards disease prevention;
3. Provide evidence on the socio-economic consequences of disease leading to increased attention and action towards their research and prevention.
4. Deploy simplified technologies to improve disease reporting and detection, and therefore the quality of data which can be generated from remote locations.  

I have worked on a range of diseases, such as rabies, foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, and canine distemper, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

Rabies

My research on rabies has contributed to developing the scientific body of evidence regarding the epidemiological, economic and operational feasibility of eliminating canine rabies through large-scale domestic dog vaccination. Yet, rabies continues to be an important cause of human mortality in many parts of the world: in Africa alone more than 25,000 people die from rabies each year.

Knowledge and practices related to rabies prevention in affected communities are influenced by socio-economic status and level of education, with the greatest risk of developing rabies falling on poor members of the community with little or no formal education. In addition children are a primary risk group, but uncertainties remain about the most effective interventions (for example community- or school-based) to protect them from rabies, and the dynamics in the community and parent-child relationships that influence children’s practices.

Our current research aims at understanding social, cultural and economic processes which shape villagers’ and children’s engagement and participation in rabies prevention focusing on rural Tanzanian communities. This research will inform the design of awareness raising interventions targeting affected communities and specific sectors of the population (children, parents/ child carers, teachers).

We are also interested in understanding rabies persistence in endemic settings and establishing workable surveillance criteria and response strategies required to achieve and maintain freedom from canine rabies.

Foot-and-Mouth disease

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most important diseases affecting livestock production and trading globally, but its study and control in traditional livestock-keeping systems in sub-Saharan Africa has received little attention.

We study the disease in livestock-wildlife interface areas of north-western Tanzania to contribute data towards global FMD control frameworks (the FAO/OIE Progressive Control Pathway). We are interested in collecting the evidence demonstrating that FMD has considerable impacts on rural livelihoods, for example limiting milk production and sales, and traction capacity. We also aim to determine FMD risk factors in rural Tanzania settings, i.e. if these are livestock- or wildlife-related.

This will inform the design of strategies to control the disease in interface areas where susceptible livestock and wildlife (for example the African buffalo) co-exist. Another key area of research relates to the spatio-temporal distribution of FMD virus types (serotypes) and subtypes, and predictability of epidemics of specific serotypes needed to inform vaccine selection and delivery strategies.

Finally, we aim to strengthen surveillance capacity for FMD in remote locations using simple field-based diagnostic technologies and engaging directly with affected communities. This will lead to increased community-level motivation, responsibility, and involvement in decision-making for FMD reporting and control.

Anthrax

In Africa, anthrax affects humans, livestock and wildlife, with consequences for human health, household income, and wildlife conservation. However, under-reporting and under-/mis-diagnosis of cases has led to a limited appreciation of the scale of the disease problem.

The reasons for these data inadequacies include the fact that people do not report to hospitals; limited physicians’ awareness; and a lack of surveillance and diagnostic expertise and infrastructure locally. We aim to address these issues through improved surveillance involving grassroots-level information networks, field-friendly diagnostics, indicator species (for example domestic dogs) for identifying high-risk areas, and the development of molecular-based assays suitable for laboratories with limited diagnostic capacity.

We plan to use the improved disease incidence data obtained using these approaches to accurately quantify anthrax impacts on affected communities. We will also take advantage of the increasing availability and affordability of powerful tools for molecular characterisation and high throughput sequencing to study epidemiological links between animal and human anthrax, and therefore identify sources of human infection.

Canine distemper

Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) is recognised as an important threat to the viability of endangered wildlife. We have been studying CDV in the Serengeti ecosystem since an epidemic in 1994 killed approximately 30% of lions (~1,000 individuals). Our interests are understanding the long-term mechanisms of maintenance of CDV in species-rich areas, where domestic dogs, typically associated with this pathogen, and a range of other susceptible carnivores co-exist.

We have been using a range of approaches to address this question, including serological investigations of dogs and lions, modelling approaches, and intervention studies involving large-scale vaccination of dogs adjacent to the Serengeti National Park. Our results so far highlight complex maintenance and transmission processes involving a broad carnivore community comprising unvaccinated dogs and wild carnivores.

Because of these disease dynamics, dog vaccination alone may not be sufficient to eliminate infection and other options, which we are investigating, may need considering.

Additional information