Other clinical research
Measles and measles-like illnesses
Partners: Uganda Virus Research Institute
Funder(s): Makerere University / UVRI Centre of Excellence in Infection and Immunity Research and Training (MUII), National Institute for Health Research - Application of genomics and modelling to the control of virus pathogens (GEMVI), Medical Research Council (MRC)
Aims:
To investigate the immune response in vaccinated children with acute measles and to characterise measles-like illness in those testing negative for measles
Progress:
This is a joint Makerere-UVRI-CVR PhD project led by Prossy Namuwulya (PhD candidate). Prossy recently visited the CVR and carried out measles neutralisation assays as well as NGS library preparation for the project. Further measles sequencing will be take place on site at UVRI with the support of Prof Matt Cotten.
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) study
Partners: Makerere University, Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI)
Funder(s): ): Makerere University / UVRI Centre of Excellence in Infection and Immunity Research and Training (MUII), Medical Research Council (MRC)
Aims:
- To carry out a CCHF seroprevalence study in Ugandan farmers, butchers and abbatoir workers in areas recently affected by CCHF cases.
- To carry out metagenomic next generation sequencing (M-NGS) of ticks collected from the same areas.
- To sequence human cases of CCHF in Uganda
Progress:
This is a PhD project led by Stella Atim (veterinary fellow) with a MUII fellowship. M-NGS analysis will be carried out later this year on the ticks collected (in excess of 9000). In the studied community (Nakaseke district), seroprevalence is high in farmers, suggesting a very high level of exposure in this area. Possible outcomes from this work might include the recommendation of a vaccination programme or that farmers use personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce exposure.