Identifying Environmental Factors for Soil Transmitted and Food Borne Helminth Diseases in Border Regions of Northern Thailand

确定泰国北部边境地区土壤传播和食源性蠕虫病的环境因素

• 批准号: 2608636
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Queen's University Belfast
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2608636
• 关键词: Identifying; Environmental; Factors; Soil; Transmitted

Parasitic worm infections (helminthiases) of humans greatly impact low to medium income countries such as Thailand, by undermining health and agricultural productivity. Particularly across Southeast Asia, the expansion of urban areas and the movement of people from countries with less developed public health programs, have increased disease transmission. This project will investigate environmental influences on helminth disease transmission. Many emerging helminthiases are linked to the environment through increased contact between humans and animals, the intensification and integration of food production systems, and the expansion of migration [1]. Therefore, effective control and treatment of many helminth diseases would benefit from better integration of clinical, veterinary and agricultural components embedded in an environmentally-driven research strategy.Thailand is classified as an 'Upper Middle Income' Country. However due the nature of helminth diseases endemic sites are significantly impacted by border countries including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, all of which are classified as 'Least Developed' Countries. Our research team has recently established baseline human infection rates in three Thailand border regions, using highly sensitive molecular diagnostics. In the past the under-estimation of helminth infections in communities such as Thailand and our previous work in the Philippines [2], provides incomplete information for the development of government policy.The proposed project will use already established human prevalence data [3] to focus on specific locations and parasite species in endemic regions of Northern Thailand, so that environmental components of disease transmission can be identified. One class of parasites, soil transmitted helminths (STH), requires significant environmental contamination for effective disease transmission. Approximately 1.5 billion or 1/4 of the world's population are infected by STH, including the main species of Ascaris, Trichuris and hookworm. Parasite eggs found in the soil or unwashed vegetables are the primary source of infection. Similarly, food borne diseases, including the cancer-causing Opisthorchis, are contracted by consuming uncooked fish, and are linked to water sources, and the interaction between snail and fish hosts. The student will spend considerable time in Thailand, collecting soil, vegetable and aquatic samples for diagnostics using traditional microscopy and more recently developed molecular analysis. Environmental foci of disease will be stratified using spatial modelling (GIS geographical information system) to demonstrating the importance of food and geography, in helminth disease transmission. Earth observation data will be used to build GIS layers of climatic and other relevant environmental factors, and enable intervention strategies to be assessed against likely future changes. Identification of environmental components of disease transmission will lead to predictive models for better informed government control policies.

人类寄生虫感染（蠕虫病）通过破坏健康和农业生产力，对泰国等中低收入国家产生巨大影响。特别是在东南亚，城市地区的扩张和公共卫生项目欠发达国家的人口流动增加了疾病传播。本项目将调查环境对蠕虫病传播的影响。许多新出现的蠕虫病通过人与动物之间接触的增加、食品生产系统的强化和整合以及迁移的扩大与环境有关[1]。因此，有效控制和治疗许多蠕虫疾病将受益于更好地整合临床，兽医和农业成分嵌入环境驱动的研究战略。泰国被列为“中上收入”国家。然而，由于蠕虫病的性质，地方病流行地点受到包括柬埔寨、老挝和缅甸在内的边境国家的严重影响，这些国家都被列为“最不发达”国家。我们的研究小组最近使用高度敏感的分子诊断方法，在泰国三个边境地区建立了基线人类感染率。过去，对泰国等社区蠕虫感染的估计不足，我们之前在菲律宾的工作[2]为政府政策的制定提供了不完整的信息。拟议的项目将使用已经建立的人类流行数据[3]，重点关注泰国北方流行地区的特定地点和寄生虫物种，以便确定疾病传播的环境因素。一类寄生虫，土壤传播的蠕虫（STH），需要显著的环境污染有效的疾病传播。约有15亿或世界人口的1/4感染性病，包括蛔虫、鞭虫和钩虫的主要种类。在土壤或未清洗的蔬菜中发现的寄生虫卵是主要的感染源。同样，食源性疾病，包括致癌的后睾吸虫，是通过食用生鱼感染的，与水源以及蜗牛和鱼宿主之间的相互作用有关。学生将在泰国花费相当长的时间，收集土壤，蔬菜和水产样品，使用传统的显微镜和最近开发的分子分析进行诊断。将使用空间模型（地理信息系统地理信息系统）对疾病的环境疫源地进行分层，以表明食物和地理在蠕虫病传播中的重要性。地球观测数据将用于建立气候和其他相关环境因素的地理信息系统层，并使干预战略能够针对未来可能的变化进行评估。确定疾病传播的环境因素将有助于建立预测模型，以便更好地了解政府的控制政策。