Background:

Animal farming is a worldwide industry, with millions of people involved in the production of animal products every day. Protecting farmed animals from disease and infection is therefore vitally important not only for livestock and consumer wellbeing, but also for those working within the farming industry.

The Project:

The FarmResist project will use a “One Health” approach, to investigate the occupational risk for pig and poultry farmers of of catching animal-associated ESBL-E and colistin-resistant enterobacteria. It is hoped that this research will lead to the development of preventive measures for avoiding the transmission of zoonotic bacteria from animal to farmers, as well as reducing the spread of antibioresistance in the environment.

The Science:

The researchers will study both small family farms and medium-big industrial farms. At each farm, faecal samples of farmers, animals (included pets and rodents) will be collected. The prevalence, genotyping and microbiota diversity will be studied by using both culture-dependent methods, molecular biology and next generation sequencing.

The association between farm parameters and antimicrobial resistance will be analysed in order to propose preventive measures to avoid the transmission of zoonotic bacteria from animal to farmers and to reduce the spread of antibioresistance in the environment.  The influence of faecal carriage of ESBL-E or colistin resistant bacteria on the faecal microbiota of farmers will then also be studied.

The Team:

The FarmResist partners are:

• Visanu Thamlikitkul, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
• Pariwat Poolperm, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Dpt of Farm Resources and Production Medecine.
• Suwit Chotinun, Chiang Mai University, poultry clinic.

• Morand Serge, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Faculty Veterinary Technology

  (all Thailand)

   

• Jean-Marc Rolain, URMITE- IHU Méditerranée Infection, Valorization and Transfer, Marseille, France
• Morand Serge, CNRS- Cirad, France
• Markus Hilty, IFIK, Bern University, Switzerland
• Oppliger Anne, IST, Lausanne University, Switzerland

Contact:

Anne Oppliger

Background:

Dengue and Zika are viruses spread through mosquito bites which can cause serious illness and even death. They are highly prevalent both in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 390 million dengue infections worldwide every year.[1] The number of outbreaks for both viruses is increasing every year, and recent cases of Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia and Brazil in 2013 and 2014 made news around the world.  As of 2016, the WHO has declared ZIKV infection is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

There is currently no specific treatment for either the Dengue or Zika viruses. A Zika vaccine is yet to be discovered, while despite two decades of dengue vaccine development, only one vaccine has been licensed in a few countries, which not cover all 4 types of the virus, and cannot be used by all ages – leaving those under the age of 9 or over 45 at risk.

The Project:

The DeZi project aims to address this issue by proposing new concepts for vaccine development. It hopes to addresses the bottleneck of flavivirus vaccine development starting from the hypothesis that development of these vaccines should be based on an integrative approach by studying cross-reactivity among flaviviruses.

To do this, the project team will firstly transfer technology of DNA vaccine production from France to Thailand. Once in place, they will aim to demonstrate that their vaccine protects against dengue virus.

The Science:

The researchers believe that a more efficient dengue vaccine should contain either T-cell epitopes or both B-and T-cell epitopes. The best animal model for prediction of vaccine efficacy should demonstrate its protection against the effect of ADE, not only primary infection.

This would prevent imbalanced immunity among the four serotypes upon tetravalent live attenuated dengue vaccine. In addition, these T cells epitopes will allow us to create a single component vaccine composed of multiple Dengue & Zika epitopes (4DZVx), which will cover concurrently the four DENV serotypes and ZIKV at the same time.

The team hypothesise that balanced immunity against all four DENV serotypes and ZIKV with a protective T cell response can prevent the risk of ADE. The 4DZVx will include the T cell component of the anti-DENV and -ZIKV response. Ideally, the T-cell response will protect against the adverse effect of ADE due to pre-existing antibodies induced following primary infections as occurring in endemic countries.

The Team:

The DeZi partners are:

• Bionet Asia, Bangkok, Thailand
• St. Luke’s College of Medicine, Manila, Philippines
• Institut Pasteur Cambodia, Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
• Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• InCellArt, Nantes, France

Contact:

Anavaj Sakuntabhai: anavaj@pasteur.fr 

[1] https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dengue-fever-reference#1

Background

Antibiotics are life-saving medicines, but increasing antibiotic resistant bacteria are making common infections increasingly difficult to treat, and antibiotic resistance is now recognised as one of the greatest threats to global health. The main cause of this increasing resistance is the unnecessary use of antibiotics, which forces bacteria to adapt in the so-called “selective pressure”.

During normal childbirth without complications, antibiotics should not be used; however, reports and small studies from Asian countries show alarmingly high levels of antibiotic use in these cases. Similarly, there is a worrying trend of over-prescribing and poor use of antibiotics for treating children under five years of age.  Focusing particularly on Lao PDR, little is known about the situation of potential overuse and misuse of antibiotics during childbirth and for treating children.

The Project

The CAREChild project aims to understand and improve antibiotic use in relation to pregnancy, childbirth and children in Lao PDR with the long-term aim of containing antibiotic resistance.

The team will explore and assess perceptions, knowledge, attitudes and reported practice as well as actual practice among health care providers and in the community, to estimate antibiotic prescribing to estimate the situation of antibiotic resistance, focusing particularly on ESBLs in Escherichia coli in infections and carriage in faecal samples.

The Science

The study is an intervention study with a formative phase leading to the development of the intervention, which will be implemented and evaluated through time series analysis. The content of the innovative intervention will be based on qualitative and quantitative findings from the formative phase and contain two components: a participatory and process-based educational intervention aimed towards health care providers, and an mHealth component aimed at pregnant women, and mothers of children under five years of age.

The main outcome measure will be the proportion of uncomplicated vaginal deliveries during which antibiotics are used, and to show changes over time during the intervention using time series analysis over a 24-month period. Additional outcomes will be knowledge and attitudes to antibiotic use and resistance, as well as antibiotic resistance levels.

Data will be collected using structured interviews regarding knowledge and practice of antibiotic use and resistance. In addition, individual interviews and focus group discussions will be held with relevant stakeholders to further understand perceptions about antibiotic use and resistance and how the situation can be improved.

The study is expected to generate important knowledge regarding antibiotic use and resistance development in Lao PDR, but with potential implications to other South East Asian countries and beyond. Furthermore, our project aims to strengthen collaborative ties between Laos-Sweden-Vietnam and to create a long-term collaboration between the partner countries that will serve the purpose of exchange of knowledge and expertise between those countries.

The Team:

The CAREChild partners are:

• Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
• Ministry of Health, Department of Food and Drugs, Vientiane Laos
• University of Health Sciences, Vientiane Laos
• National Institute of Public Health, Vientiane Laos
• Health Department of Vientiane Capital, Vientiane Laos
• Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
• Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam

Contact:

Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg: Cecilia.Stalsby.Lundborg@ki.se

The Project:

Vaccination is one of the most effective strategies for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. However, not all vaccine are currently available in Thailand, particularly those for endemic diseases. This is in part due to low incidence and a lack of public information, but cost also plays an important factor, as most commercially available vaccines are imported, and too expensive for the general public to afford.

 The ThaiVacc project aims to address this issue through the research and development of vaccines for leptospirosis and dengue fever. By working with an international team of researchers in Thailand, Switzerland and France,  the project will not only help in strengthening the potential in vaccine research and development in Thailand, but will allow for knowledge and technology transfer between project partners in Europe and Southeast Asia.

The Science:

The project will be focused on the following activities:

• Investigating the use of adjuvant systems in order to enhance the immunogenic properties of new multiple subunit vaccines for leptospirosis and suitable tetravalent DNA vaccine for dengue fever to allow higher immunogenicity and enhanced protection.
• Developing new oral vaccination approaches against leptospirosis and dengue, which combine M-cell targeting strategies and specific mucosal adjuvants.
• Organizing a workshop on mucosal vaccination in Chulalongkorn University, with the collaboration of Swiss and French partners.

The Team:

The ThaiVacc partners are:

• Chula Vaccine Research Center (Chula VRC), Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
• University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, Switzerland
• University of Geneva (UNIGE), Geneva, Switzerland
• Université Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne (UJM), Saint-Etienne, France

Contact:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kanitha Patarakul, MD, PhD: Kanitha.Pa@chula.ac.th

The Project:

Patients suffering from serious infections which cannot be cured with standard treatments are prescribed so called ‘last-resort’ antibiotics, such as carbapenem and colistin. They are used only when all other drug options have failed, and can be vital for saving lives.

However, with growing concern over antibiotic resistance, studies are needed to ensure infections can be safely controlled in the future.

The PlasmID-SEA project will use state-of-the-art smartphone-based microscopy to study plasmids that cause carbapenem and colistin resistance, and will use this information for infection control, epidemiological studies and diagnostics.

The Science:

This project will study plasmids which cause resistance against carbapenem and colistin antibiotics in Southeast Asia. To do this, the researchers will use a modern technique, based on optical DNA mapping, to analyse single plasmids through smartphone-based microscopy. The assay will then be transferred to a smartphone-based instrument, thus guaranteeing its long-term sustainable use in the region.

The Team:

The PlasmID-SEA partners are:

• Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden (Project coordinator)
• Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
• University of Health Sciences, Vientiane, Laos
• Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam (external partner)
• Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden 

Contact:

Fredrik Westerlund: fredrikw@chalmers.se