Characterizing Hepatitis B Transmission in Congolese Children

摘要 佩顿·汤普森博士是诺斯大学儿科传染病助理教授 她正在申请K08临床科学家导师职业发展奖。Dr。 汤普森的长期职业目标是成为一名独立的内科医生兼科学家，拥有 在低资源环境下的疫苗学和疫苗可预防疾病的流行病学。 在撒哈拉以南非洲，乙肝病毒(乙肝)的流行率高得令人无法接受，因为有一个 有效的乙肝疫苗。为了设计改进的疫苗接种战略来保护弱势群体 为了防止个人感染乙肝病毒，我们必须首先解决两个与乙肝病毒相关的重要知识鸿沟：1)地理空间 非洲儿童感染乙肝病毒的驱动因素，以及2)非洲儿童中乙肝病毒的家庭传播模式。 这项建议将利用流行病学数据和干血斑点样本来解决这些知识差距 来自刚果民主共和国(刚果民主共和国)的一项大型全国调查。 这项应用将解决以下具体目标：目标1)定位乙肝高发地区和 在刚果儿童中使用国家现有DBS样本的低人口水平免疫力 代表性调查；目的2)利用系统发生学确定家庭一级的乙肝病毒传播模式 方法；以及目标3)使用模型估计刚果民主共和国目标疫苗接种战略的影响 技巧。这些目标与汤普森博士的职业发展目标一致：1)流行病学培训 和大型数据仓库的空间分析；2)疫苗学培训；以及3)影响建模培训。 为了实现这些目标，汤普森博士组建了一支非常合格的导师团队，成员包括：Her 首席导师西尔维娅·贝克尔-德雷普斯博士，一位在疫苗可预防方面拥有专业知识的全球卫生研究员 疾病；她的共同导师史蒂文·梅什尼克博士，一位在刚果民主共和国拥有丰富经验的熟练流行病学家； 内部咨询委员会，由大数据分析(乔纳森·帕尔博士)、肝病(Dr。 空间分析(Michael Emch博士)和疫苗学(David Weber博士)。这是一个多学科的 NIH资助的研究团队在培训初级调查人员方面有着令人印象深刻的记录 独立研究职业。在他们的监督下，汤普森博士将完成这项研究和事业 本方案的发展目标，并将准备申请R01来实施和评估 针对刚果民主共和国的空间定向疫苗接种战略。

ABSTRACT Dr. Peyton Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina (UNC) who is applying for a K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Career Development Award. Dr. Thompson’s long-term career goal is to become an independent physician-scientist with expertise in vaccinology and the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases in low-resource settings. The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is unacceptably high in sub-Saharan Africa given that there is an effective vaccine against HBV. In order to design improved vaccination strategies to protect vulnerable individuals against HBV, we must first address two important HBV-related knowledge gaps: 1) Geospatial drivers of HBV infection in African children, and 2) HBV household transmission patterns in African children. This proposal will address these knowledge gaps using epidemiological data and dried-blood spot samples from a large national survey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This application will address the following specific aims: Aim 1) Locate hotspots of high HBV prevalence and low population-level immunity among Congolese children using existing DBS samples from a nationally representative survey; Aim 2) Identify patterns of HBV transmission at the household level using phylogenetic approaches; and Aim 3) Estimate the impact of targeted vaccination strategies in the DRC using modeling techniques. These aims align with Dr. Thompson’s career development goals: 1) Training in epidemiological and spatial analyses of large data repositories; 2) Training in vaccinology; and 3) Training in impact modeling. To achieve these goals, Dr. Thompson has assembled a highly qualified mentorship team comprised of: her primary mentor, Dr. Sylvia Becker-Dreps, a global health researcher with expertise in vaccine-preventable diseases; her co-mentor, Dr. Steven Meshnick, a skilled epidemiologist with vast experience in the DRC; an internal advisory committee consisting of experts in analysis of large data (Dr. Jonathan Parr), hepatology (Dr. Michael Fried), spatial analyses (Dr. Michael Emch) and vaccinology (Dr. David Weber). This multidisciplinary team of NIH-funded researchers has an impressive track record of training junior investigators toward independent research careers. Under their supervision, Dr. Thompson will achieve the research and career development aims in this proposal, and will be prepared to apply for an R01 to implement and evaluate spatially targeted vaccination strategies specific to the DRC.