Human brucellosis in Tanzania: typing the pathogen and identifying animal sources of infection.

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Studentship strategic priority area: Food security (animal health)Keywords: Brucellosis, Zoonoses, Infectious Disease, Animal Health, Disease ControlBrucellosis 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.