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

学生战略优先领域：粮食安全(动物健康)关键词：布鲁氏菌病、人畜共患病、传染病、动物健康、疾病控制布鲁氏菌病是从动物获得的最广泛的人类疾病之一，也是非洲最优先的动物疾病之一。布鲁氏菌病感染许多动物物种，包括主要牲畜物种--牛、绵羊和山羊--大多数人类感染是通过直接接触牲畜或通过未经处理的奶制品间接传播而获得的。布鲁氏菌病具有广泛的影响，包括流产造成的动物损失、牛奶产量的损失、受感染动物的屠宰以及导致工作能力下降的人类疾病。在撒哈拉以南非洲，特别是坦桑尼亚，布鲁氏菌病控制方案的发展受到阻碍，因为我们不知道哪些布鲁氏菌是人类疾病的主要原因，也不知道哪些动物物种是人类感染的最重要来源。该项目的目的是建立积极的监测，以确定和抽样高概率的人类布鲁氏菌病病例，确定对人类疾病负有责任的布鲁氏菌物种，并量化该疾病对人类健康的影响。该项目将与在牲畜中检测到的物种类型布鲁氏菌的进一步研究一起进行，从而能够整合这些数据源，以提高对动物传人传播的了解，并为综合控制政策的制定提供信息。总体而言，这项工作将建立证据基础，为撒哈拉以南非洲使用布鲁氏菌疫苗提供信息，并建设坦桑尼亚实验室的能力，以产生关键的布鲁氏菌分型数据。这项研究将与负责制定国家布鲁氏菌控制政策的坦桑尼亚政府科学家携手进行。该项目与BBSRC动物健康战略研究领域保持一致，并涉及食品、营养和健康研究领域的主题。该项目由支持培训计划资助，旨在使学生具备应对非洲和亚洲复杂的人畜共患病问题的技能和洞察力。该项目在非洲、亚洲和英国的学生和导师的合作、强调跨学科培训和监督以及将研究转化为政策和实践的技能方面是独一无二的。通过支助培训方案，这一奖学金包括一个研究技能基础培训班(3个月)、定期参加支助暑期学校和小型研讨会、一个专业实习(最多3个月)和一个为期3年的研究项目，该项目将嵌入到设在坦桑尼亚的ZELS资助的项目中或与之联系起来。通过这种形式提供的培训将使学生具备该特定研究领域的知识深度，以及通过与来自其他学科的学生和研究人员以及与政策制定者和非学术合作伙伴的频繁互动而获得的知识广度和观点。通过这个项目，学生将获得卫生研究、基于诊断测试的实验室分析和定量数据分析的现场工作技术方面的具体技能。

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.