A Study of Enteropathogenic Bacteria Transmitted from Animals to Humans

描述(申请人提供)：许多重要的传染病与接触人畜粪便有关。事实上，大多数腹泻疾病--全世界儿童发病率和死亡率的第二大原因--都是由于接触粪便中的感染性微生物造成的。到目前为止，研究主要集中在接触人类粪便方面。关于动物粪便对人类腹泻疾病的意义的研究有限，也没有被很好地理解。然而，充满人类肠道病原体的动物粪便是贫困社区人类环境中的常见污染物。此外，由于低收入和中等收入国家对肉类、家禽和乳制品的需求增加，饲养食用动物的数量正在增加。为了最大限度地提高我们预防与粪便有关的传染病传播的能力，我们需要更好地了解导致肠道感染传播的条件。了解动物在人类肠道感染中所起的作用可能导致重要而有效的基于人群的战略，以改善动物粪便的管理--打破人畜共患疾病的粪便-口腔途径。这一国际研究科学家发展奖(K01)将使乔治华盛顿大学公共卫生与健康科学学院(SPHHS)的全球环境健康研究员Jay Graham博士能够通过在高级流行病学、分子微生物学和开展国际研究方面的指导，确立自己作为独立研究员的地位。格雷厄姆博士的研究重点是与动物和牲畜相关的腹泻疾病和新出现的传染病，特别是儿童时期接触致病肠道细菌的情况。拟议的K01培训和研究将使格雷厄姆博士能够实现以下目标：1)提高设计研究的能力，以定量测试不同低收入半农村社区中人与动物之间的疾病传播，这些社区具有不同程度的人与动物之间的相互作用；2)增加对低收入社区研究中特殊伦理问题的了解；3)在所有研究和干预措施的实施中与社区合作伙伴的技能增强；4)提高建立广泛的导师和同事网络的能力，这些网络将成为未来项目的合作者；以及5)成功地应用新颖的分子微生物学技术来研究人畜共患肠道感染的传播。为了成为一名成功的独立全球卫生研究员，Graham博士将在GW SPHHS环境与职业健康主席兼教授Melissa Perry博士和旧金山基多大学领先的公共卫生和兽医微生物学家Gabriel Trueba博士的主要指导下参加为期四年的培训计划。Graham博士拥有一支经验丰富、通力合作的指导团队，成员还包括细菌病原体基因组分析专家Lance Price博士(GW SPHHS)和传染病传播领域的领先流行病学家Joseph Eisenberg博士。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many important infectious diseases are associated with exposure to human and animal feces. In fact, most diarrheal diseases - the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide - result from exposure to infectious microorganisms in feces. To date, research has focused principally on exposures to human feces. Research on the significance of feces from animals to diarrheal diseases in humans is limited and not well understood. Yet, animal feces, replete with human enteric pathogens, are common contaminants in the human environment of poor communities. Further, the population of animals raised for food is rising due to increased demand for meat, poultry and dairy products in low and middle-income countries. In order to maximize our ability to prevent the spread of infectious diseases associated with feces we need to better understand the conditions that contribute to the transmission of enteric infections. Understanding the role that animals play in human enteric infections could lead to important and efficacious population-based strategies that improve the management of animal feces - breaking the fecal-oral route of zoonotic disease. This International Research Scientist Development Award (K01) will enable Dr. Jay Graham, a global environmental health researcher at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Science (SPHHS), to establish himself as an independent investigator through a combination of mentorship in advanced epidemiology, molecular microbiology and conducting international research. Dr. Graham's research focuses on diarrheal diseases and emerging infectious diseases associated with animals and livestock, with particular emphasis on childhood exposures to pathogenic enteric bacteria. The proposed K01 training and research will allow Dr. Graham to accomplish the following goals: 1) Improved ability to design studies that can quantitatively test disease transmission between humans and animals in diverse low-income semi-rural communities characterized by differing levels of interactions between humans and animals; 2) Increased knowledge of special ethical issues in conducting research in low-income communities; 3) Enhanced skills at working with community partners at all levels of research and implementation of interventions; 4) Increased aptitude to build a broad network of mentors and colleagues who will serve as collaborators on future projects; and 5) Success at applying novel molecular microbiologic techniques to study the spread of zoonotic enteric infections. To become a successful independent global health researcher, Dr. Graham will engage in a four-year training program under the primary mentorship of Dr. Melissa Perry, the Chair and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the GW SPHHS and Dr. Gabriel Trueba, a leading public health and veterinary microbiologist at The Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Dr. Graham has an experienced and collaborative mentoring team, which also includes Dr. Lance Price (GW SPHHS), an expert in genomics analysis of bacterial pathogens and Dr. Joseph Eisenberg, a leading epidemiologist in infectious enteric disease transmission.