Human brucellosis in Tanzania: typing the pathogen and identifying animal sources of infection.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: College of Medical, Veterinary, Life Sci
Abstract
Studentship strategic priority area: Food security (animal health)
Keywords: Brucellosis, Zoonoses, Infectious Disease, Animal Health, Disease Control
Brucellosis is one of most widespread human diseases acquired from animals, and is one of the highest priority animal diseases in Africa. Brucellosis infects many animal species, including key livestock species - cattle, sheep, and goats - and most human infections are acquired through direct contact with livestock or via indirect transmission through untreated milk products. Brucellosis has wide-ranging impacts that include animal losses due to abortion, lost milk production, slaughter of infected animals, and human illness causing reduced work capacity. In sub-Saharan Africa, and Tanzania specifically, development of brucellosis control programmes is held back because we do not know which Brucella species is the primary cause of human illness, nor which animal species is the most important source of human infections.
The aim of this project is to establish active surveillance to identify and sample high-probability human brucellosis cases, identify the Brucella species responsible for human illness and quantify the human health impacts of this disease. This project will be conducted alongside additional research to species-type Brucella detected in livestock, enabling integration of these data sources to improve understanding of animal to human transmission and inform integrated control policy development. Overall, this work will develop the evidence-base to inform the use of Brucella vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and build capacity in Tanzanian laboratories to generate critical Brucella typing data. The research will be conducted hand-in-hand with Tanzanian government scientists charged with formulating national policies for the control of brucellosis.
This project is aligned to the BBSRC strategic research area on Animal Health and also touches on topics covered by the Food, nutrition and health research area.
This studentship is funded through the SUPPORT training programme, designed to equip students with the skills and insight to tackle complex zoonotic disease problems in Africa and Asia. The programme is unique in the teaming of students and supervisors from Africa, Asia and the UK, an emphasis on interdisciplinary training and supervision, and development of skills for translation of research into policy and practice. Through the SUPPORT training programme this studentship includes a foundation training course in research skills (3 months), regular attendance at SUPPORT summer schools and mini-symposia, a professional internship (up to 3 months), and a ~ 3-year research project that will be embedded within or link across ZELS-funded projects based in Tanzania. The training provided through this studentship will equip the student with both depth of knowledge in this specific research area and also a breadth of knowledge and of perspective gained through frequent interactions with students and researchers from other disciplines, and with policy makers and non-academic partners. Through this project the student will gain specific skills in fieldwork techniques for health research, diagnostic test based laboratory analyses and quantitative data analysis.
Keywords: Brucellosis, Zoonoses, Infectious Disease, Animal Health, Disease Control
Brucellosis is one of most widespread human diseases acquired from animals, and is one of the highest priority animal diseases in Africa. Brucellosis infects many animal species, including key livestock species - cattle, sheep, and goats - and most human infections are acquired through direct contact with livestock or via indirect transmission through untreated milk products. Brucellosis has wide-ranging impacts that include animal losses due to abortion, lost milk production, slaughter of infected animals, and human illness causing reduced work capacity. In sub-Saharan Africa, and Tanzania specifically, development of brucellosis control programmes is held back because we do not know which Brucella species is the primary cause of human illness, nor which animal species is the most important source of human infections.
The aim of this project is to establish active surveillance to identify and sample high-probability human brucellosis cases, identify the Brucella species responsible for human illness and quantify the human health impacts of this disease. This project will be conducted alongside additional research to species-type Brucella detected in livestock, enabling integration of these data sources to improve understanding of animal to human transmission and inform integrated control policy development. Overall, this work will develop the evidence-base to inform the use of Brucella vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa and build capacity in Tanzanian laboratories to generate critical Brucella typing data. The research will be conducted hand-in-hand with Tanzanian government scientists charged with formulating national policies for the control of brucellosis.
This project is aligned to the BBSRC strategic research area on Animal Health and also touches on topics covered by the Food, nutrition and health research area.
This studentship is funded through the SUPPORT training programme, designed to equip students with the skills and insight to tackle complex zoonotic disease problems in Africa and Asia. The programme is unique in the teaming of students and supervisors from Africa, Asia and the UK, an emphasis on interdisciplinary training and supervision, and development of skills for translation of research into policy and practice. Through the SUPPORT training programme this studentship includes a foundation training course in research skills (3 months), regular attendance at SUPPORT summer schools and mini-symposia, a professional internship (up to 3 months), and a ~ 3-year research project that will be embedded within or link across ZELS-funded projects based in Tanzania. The training provided through this studentship will equip the student with both depth of knowledge in this specific research area and also a breadth of knowledge and of perspective gained through frequent interactions with students and researchers from other disciplines, and with policy makers and non-academic partners. Through this project the student will gain specific skills in fieldwork techniques for health research, diagnostic test based laboratory analyses and quantitative data analysis.
Organisations
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/N503563/1 | 01/10/2015 | 30/09/2019 | |||
| 1653816 | Studentship | BB/N503563/1 | 28/09/2015 | 28/09/2019 | Rebecca Bodenham |
| Description | PhD research is now complete. Research conducted focused on the collection of field data on human brucellosis in Tanzania, using targeted community surveillance. Family members of patients with fever presenting at a rural hospital have been sampled, in order to investigate potential spatial grouping of brucellosis infections in a community with limited access to healthcare facilities. Diagnostic testing of human samples and analysis of data has been performed. This study identified active human brucellosis cases in the community and indicated a trend towards clustering of human brucellosis cases in the households of active brucellosis hospital patients. This study reinforces that hospital-based surveillance for brucellosis, without active community surveillance, will likely underestimate the burden of disease. A risk factor analysis for acute human brucellosis in a pastoralist community of northern Tanzania was also performed with data collected during the award timeline. Some of the risk factors associated with acute human brucellosis were also identified and published in an open access scientific journal. An additional analysis was performed to evaluate the performance of diagnostic test for the identification of livestock brucellosis in northern Tanzania. This analysis allowed estimation of the accuracy of these tests which can assist in guiding their effective application in the surveillance of livestock brucellosis. This analysis has been submitted for scientific publication and is under revision (March 2021). |
| Exploitation Route | Findings from this research can be communicated to policy-makers to contribute to a brucellosis control strategy for Tanzania. Results can also be fed back to local community members, leaders and clinical personnel so that there is increased awareness and discussion about brucellosis, it's impacts and setting-specific control strategies. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare |
| Description | PhD is now complete. The following methods have been used to disseminate research findings from this PhD study on targeted community surveillance of human brucellosis: - Poster presentation at the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Symposium in Moshi, Tanzania Sept 2017 - Oral presentation of research activities within the community to local hospital personnel and facilitation of discussion about epidemiology of brucellosis and treatment, May 2017 - Poster presentation of preliminary results to rural hospital personnel in community where sampling was conducted, Feb 2018 - Household sampling preliminary results communicated and discussion about epidemiology of brucellosis and control measures during five local community leader meetings, Oct 2017 - Oral presentation of key findings from ongoing analyses at the ZELS-AS meeting, Jan 2019 - Scientific publication April 2020 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62849-4 - Scientific publication under revision Mar 2021 |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare |
| Description | A talk of presentation - Poster at World One Health Congress 2020 - Acute Brucellosis Bodenham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presented by Rebecca Bodenham on "Acute brucellosis in humans in northern Tanzania: determining prevalence, infecting Brucella species and risk factors for infection in a pastoralist community". The congress website recorded 44,456 users. Distribution: 1106 researchers, 562 governments, international organisations.; 61 industry participants; 17 press. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://worldonehealthcongress.org |
| Description | A talk of presentation - Poster at World One Health Congress 2020 - Brucellosis Diagnostics Lukambagire |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presented by AbdulHamid Lukambagire on "Performance and costs of serological tests for human brucellosis" at the World One Health Congress 2020. The congress website recorded 44,456 users. Distribution: 1106 researchers, 562 governments, international organisations.; 61 industry participants; 17 press. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://worldonehealthcongress.org |
| Description | District and ward medical and veterinary health providers meeting - Jan 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop attended by medical and veterinary health providers from the district and ward level from four districts in Northern Tanzania. The aim was to deliver key outcomes from ZELS and related University of Glasgow projects and to spark discussion across sectors on ways to reduce impacts of zoonoses in pastoral communities. The event used Ketso - a particpatory toolkit used to faciliate creative discussion - to gather intervention ideas from attendees. Discussion primarily focused on the practicalities of implementation, particularly focusing on raising awareness and introducing compulsory vaccination as key ways to prevent zoonoses. As a result of the workshop, plans were made for further engagement with attendees, including creation of a zoonoses factsheet to assist ward and district health workers in further engagement with pastoral communities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |