STRESS-MALAWI: Strengthening Resilience against Sleeping Sickness in Malawi

马拉维压力：加强马拉维对昏睡病的抵抗力

• 批准号: MR/V011375/1
• 负责人: Christopher Jones
• 金额: $ 109.35万
• 依托单位: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FV011375%2F1
• 关键词: STRESS; MALAWI; Strengthening; Resilience; against

Predicting, detecting and responding to outbreaks of known and emerging infectious diseases pose a worldwide problem, particularly in countries where the health system is fragile. In sub-Saharan Africa, outbreaks of established and emerging (e.g. Ebola) zoonotic diseases often have their origins in remote wilderness areas where pathogens circulate largely undetected between wild reservoir hosts and with few human cases. For reasons poorly understood, the transmission dynamics of these pathogens can change and outbreaks occur as the disease spills over into neighbouring populations of humans and livestock.Rhodesian Human African Trypanosomiasis (rHAT), caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense transmitted by tsetse flies, is a zoonotic disease associated with conservation areas of East and Southern Africa. In 2019-20, Malawi experienced a surge of rHAT cases. In a period of just three months, the number of cases was triple the annual mean for the previous decade, with most cases coming from communities located near two national parks. The underlying causes of the surge are uncertain but potential causes include changes in the ecology and behaviour of tsetse as a consequence of environmental changes, and/or the emergence of a virulent strain of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. Currently, control of rHAT in Malawi relies largely on passive detection and treatment of cases. There are no vaccines or drugs to prevent rHAT and the only way of protecting people is by controlling tsetse flies, however, to do this across a national park is prohibitively expensive and logistically complex. More affordable and sustainable strategies which remove tsetse from settled areas and confine them to the park are needed.The overall goal of the STRESS-MALAWI project is to test the hypothesis that risk of rHAT for communities living on the edge of conservation areas can be reduced by focusing tsetse control efforts on the key ecological zones which sustain the tsetse populations biting humans. These zones are likely to be the edges of a conservation area where dense natural vegetation and an abundance of wild hosts sustain high numbers of tsetse relatively close to settlements.Focusing on the Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve in northern Malawi, and the surrounding farming areas, we will undertake empirical and modelling studies to quantify the underlying spatial and temporal drivers of rHAT and identify potential causes of the 2019-surge in cases. Findings from these studies will allow us to design and deliver a cost-effective and spatially-informed tsetse control strategy in which insecticide-treated targets, which attract and kill tsetse, will be deployed to protect communities from rHAT. To achieve our goal, we will:-First, develop and implement a tsetse sampling strategy to quantify the population dynamics of tsetse and trypanosomes across the interface of conservation and agricultural areas. Tsetse will be sampled along transects across the interface and simultaneous mapping of landcover using satellite and drone imagery will quantify the relationship between tsetse abundance and vegetation.Second, quantify the numbers and type of tsetse attracted to humans moving outdoors and within buildings and hence identify where and when people are likely to be bitten.Third, determine whether the transmission potential of T. b. rhodesiense has increased due to the emergence of a new virulent strain of parasite.Finally, we will integrate knowledge from 1-3 to design and implement a vector control strategy at the interface of the Vwaza Marsh Reserve.Our findings will contribute to the development of a strategy for monitoring and control of rHAT in Malawi and other countries in East and Southern Africa. More generally, the data, models, trypanosome genomes and methods produced by our project will contribute to evidence-based strategies for controlling existing and emerging vector-borne zoonoses associated with wilderness areas.

预测，检测和反应已知和新兴的传染病的爆发构成了全球问题，尤其是在卫生系统脆弱的国家。在撒哈拉以南非洲，既定和新兴（例如埃博拉病毒）人畜共患病的爆发通常起源于偏远的荒野地区，在偏远的荒野地区，病原体在野生储层宿主之间大部分未发现，而人类病例很少。由于理解不佳的原因，这些病原体的传播动态可能会发生变化和爆发，因为该疾病溢出到人类和牲畜的邻近人群中。在2019 - 20年度，马拉维经历了大量的RHAT病例。在短短三个月的时间里，案件的数量是过去十年的年平均值三倍，大多数案件来自两个国家公园附近的社区。激增的根本原因是不确定的，但潜在的原因包括由于环境变化而导致采采的生态和行为的变化，和/或出现了Brucei Rhodesiense的强烈锥虫菌株的出现。目前，马拉维RHAT的控制很大程度上依赖于被动检测和案件治疗。没有疫苗或药物可以防止RHAT，保护人的唯一方法是控制采摘苍蝇，但是，在国家公园进行此操作非常昂贵且逻辑上很复杂。更实惠，更可持续的策略，这些策略将需要从定居区域中消除tsetse，并将其局限于公园。压力 - 马拉维项目的总体目标是检验以下假设：假设RHAT的风险可以通过将TSETSE控制努力集中在维持TSETSE群体的关键生态区域来降低居住在保护区域的边缘的社区，从而使TSETSE群体受到tseTse群体的影响。这些区域可能是保护区的边缘，在这里，茂密的自然植被和丰富的野生宿主相对较近地靠近定居点。关注马拉维北部的Vwaza Marsh野生动植物保护区，以及周围的农业区域，我们将进行量化的经验和模型范围，以量化2019年的Spat-Spat-Spatsial and Artiver and rhat，并努力地进行统治，并努力地进行统治，并努力地使用rant的范围，并努力进行统一的服务。案例。这些研究的发现将使我们能够设计并提供具有成本效益且具有空间知识的采采控制策略，其中将采用杀虫剂处理的目标（吸引和杀死采摘者）将被部署以保护社区免受RHAT的侵害。为了实现我们的目标，我们将： - 首先，制定和实施采样采样策略，以量化在保护和农业领域界面上采集采集和锥虫的种群动态。采集将沿界面上的样带进行取样，并同时使用卫星和无人机图像对陆地的映射进行量化，将量化tsotse的丰度和植被之间的关系。第二，量化了对人类在室外以及在建筑物内以及在何时何时何时何时确定的人类迁移的人类的数量和类型。由于出现了一种新的强派寄生虫菌株，罗得教素有所增加。在本文中，我们将在Vwaza Marsh Reserve的界面上将知识从1-3整合到设计和实施矢量控制策略。我们的发现将有助于制定Malawi和Malawi和其他国家中RHAT和其他国家的RHAT和其他国家的策略。更一般而言，我们的项目生产的数据，模型，锥虫基因组和方法将有助于基于证据的策略来控制与荒野相关的现有和新兴的媒介传播的人畜共患病。