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Epidemiological and molecolar biological study of cholera transmission dynamics in angola: a multidisciplinary approach

Objective



THE STUDY WILL BE A MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION BETWEEN SCIENTISTS OF THE UNIVERSIDADE DE LUANDA "AGOSTINHO NETO", ANGOLA, THE INTERUNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTRE ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (CIRPS), ITALY, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE (LSHTM), UNITED KINGDOM, AND OF A SOMALI TEAM (AT PRESENT CIRPS-LSHTM) OF THE SOMALI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. A SYNCRETIC APPROACH WILL BE ADOPTED WHEREBY QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DATA ARE COLLECTED INTERFACING VARIOUS DISCIPLINES SUCH AS EPIDEMILOGY, SOCIAL AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES, BACTERIAL GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. THIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH WILL ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY FACTORS TRIGGERING THE EPIDEMIC PHASES IN AN ENDEMIC AREA AND DETERMINANTS OF EFFECTIVE TRANSMISSION BY DEFINING LINKS BETWEEN HOUSEHOLD STRUCTURE (THE STUDY UNIT), BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS WITHIN THE HOUSEHOLD ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ROUTES OF INFECTION PROPAGATION. GENETIC TOOLS BASED ON MARKERS SUCH AS PLASMIDS, VIBRIOPHAGES/INTEGRATION SITES, REPEATED GENOMIC DNA SEQUENCES WILL BE DEVELOPED TO RECONSTRUCT HISTORY AND TRACE DIFFERENT PREVALENT INDIVIDUAL STRAINS OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE 01. MOLECULAR PROCEDURES OF SPECIFIC DNA AMPLIFICATION WILL BE ESTABLISHED TO DIRECTLY DETECT SMALL NUMBERS OF VIBRIO CHOLERAE 01 BACTERIO IN HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIMENS. THE MAIN INTEGRATED OBJECTIVE IS TO RESOLVE THE INFECTION PROPAGATION INTO ITS SINGLE STEPS AND DESIGN A DYNAMIC MODEL TO PROVIDE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CHOLERA TRANSMISSION AND TO PROPOSE MORE ADEQUATE, MULTISECTORAL CHOLERA CONTROL STRATEGIES.
QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION ON CHOLERA MORBIDITY, ANTHROPOMETRIC STATUS OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN HEALTH SYSTEMS UTILIZATION, AND ON PATTERNS OF HYGIENIC AND FOOD HANDLING BEHAVIOURS WILL BE COLLECTED BY ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE AND OBSERVATIONS DURING A PERIOD OF 20 MONTHS. A FOLLOW-UP OF A SAMPLE OF HOUSEHOLDS (100-300 PER COMMUNITY) IN SMALL TO MEDIUM-SIZE URBAN COMMUNITIES (4-6) OF THE ANGOLAN COASTAL REGION WILL BE PERFORMED. QUALITATIVE DATA ON BELIEFS AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CHOLERA, ON DETERMINANTS OF AND CONSTRAINTS TO THE ADOPTION OF HYGIENIC BEHAVIOURS, AND ON DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES WILL BE COLLECTED IN THE STUDY COMMUNITIES. THE DISTRIBUTION AND THE HISTORY OF V. CHOLERAE 01 STRAINS IN THE STUDY POPULATION AND IN THE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE CHARACTERISED IN DETAIL BY THE MOLECULAR AND GENETIC ANALYSIS.

Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Coordinator

INTERUNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTRE ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EU contribution
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Address
Via della Polveriera 37
00184 ROMA
Italy

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Participants (3)