IVI in the Media
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IVI at International Scientific Expert Meeting on Typhoid Fever in Madagascar
IVI at International Scientific Expert Meeting on Typhoid Fever in Madagascar
-SAPORT (Scientific Advisory Process for Optimal Research on Typhoid) meeting convened typhoid experts to optimize typhoid research in Africa and Asia
-IVI is leading research on assessing severe typhoid in Africa through Severe Typhoid in Africa Program (SETA)
The following is an article translated from French and published in a local newspaper in Madagascar on 31 May 2016 (Midi Madagasikara no.9963 du Mardi 31 Mai 2016).
A group of scientific experts on typhoid fever (known as the Scientific Advisory Process for Optimal Research on Typhoid; SAPORT) held a meeting on 25-26 May 2016 at the Carlton Hotel Madagascar to discuss optimizing typhoid fever research in Africa and Asia. Forty scientists attended the meeting, and included Dr. Anita Zaidi of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which funded the meeting; Dr. Adwoa Bentsi-Enchill of the World Health Organization (WHO); and Prof. Robert Breiman of Emory University which coordinated the meeting. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI) were represented, as well as representatives from universities, research institutes and laboratories of six African countries (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Madagascar) and three Asian countries (Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh). They actively participated in the meeting with the goal of harmonizing typhoid fever research in Africa and Asia.
In Madagascar, the Ministry of Public Health gave its approval to conduct typhoid fever research in primary health centers and public hospitals (Authorization No. 045-MSANP / EC of 6 May 2011). More than 3,000 blood samples collected from febrile patients were cultured at the microbiology laboratory of the University of Antananarivo during two phases of research (2011-2013 and 2014-2015), which helped detect the presence of Salmonella Typhi in Madagascar. While results from the first phase of research indicated a moderate burden of typhoid fever in Madagascar (Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program (TSAP) published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 62, Supplement 1, 15 March 2016), the second phase exhibited a higher number of blood culture-positive Salmonella Typhi cases among the study-enrolled febrile patients in 2015.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding typhoid research through two major programs for two years (2016-2018): “Severe Typhoid in Africa Program (SETA)” coordinated by Dr. Florian Marks of IVI and “Enteric Fever in Asia Project (SEAP)” coordinated by Dr. Denise Garrett of Sabin Vaccine Institute. Blood culture is one of the proven diagnostic measures of typhoid fever. Clinical symptoms are multiple but primarily manifest in fever (above 37.5C), and often accompanied by headache and respiratory and digestive symptoms. Handwashing, food hygiene, safe drinking water and elimination of open defecation are some of the key preventive measures until vaccination is ultimately introduced based on considerations by policymakers.