2009 Infectious Diseases in Africa: Measurement of Immune Responses

描述（由申请人提供）：三种主要的传染病目前正在破坏非洲大陆：HIV-1，结核病和疟疾。截至2006年底，约有4000万人感染艾滋病毒，其中2500万人生活在撒哈拉以南非洲。如果我们考虑结核病的发病率，估计结核病发病率最高的15个国家中有12个在非洲。最后，急性疟疾感染造成约100万人死亡。仅非洲就占这些死亡人数的90%。非洲人口中的这一令人难以置信的疾病负担正在对社会的各个方面造成破坏，特别是对大多数非洲国家的经济造成破坏。虽然在受影响最严重的国家内有许多措施来应对艾滋病毒、结核病和疟疾造成的疾病负担，但在培训当地科学家掌握一些有助于国内研究的方法方面仍然存在空白。在这笔赠款中，我们认为，年轻科学家的培训应与实施现场物理基础设施，如实验室沿着进行。重要的是，国内科学家有机会获得科学知识和培训，以寻求这些传染病的免疫保护的相关性。通过组织题为“非洲传染病：免疫反应的衡量”的这一系列专题讨论会（国家传染病研究所，南非约翰内斯堡，2008-2010年11月），我们的目标是：1.为非洲的初级研究人员提供有关艾滋病毒、结核病和疟疾发病机制的最新数据及其对疫苗开发的影响。2.让初级研究人员有机会与该领域的专家讨论他们自己的研究项目。3.促进合作，使现有的非洲科学家网络能够发挥作用并进一步发展，以便将来能够解决该区域的具体问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Three major infectious diseases are currently devastating the African continent: HIV-1, tuberculosis, and malaria. Approximately forty million people were living with HIV infection at the end of 2006, and of these, twenty-five million were living in Sub-Saharan Africa. If we consider the incidence of TB, 12 of the 15 countries with the highest estimated TB incidence rate are in Africa. Lastly, acute Malaria infections are responsible for approximately 1 million of deaths. Africa alone suffers 90% of these deaths. This incredible burden of diseases amongst African populations is causing devastation in all facets of society, most notably in the economies of most African countries. Although there are many measures in place to tackle the disease burden from HIV, TB and Malaria within countries worst affected, there remains a void in terms of training local scientists in some of the methodologies that would facilitate in-country research. In this grant, we believe that training of junior scientists should be conducted along with the implementation of in situ physical infrastructures, such as laboratories. It is important that in-country scientists have access to scientific knowledge and training to seek correlates of immune protection for these infectious diseases. By organizing this cycle of symposia, entitled: "Infectious Diseases in Africa: Measurement of Immune Response" (National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa, November 2008-2010), our objectives are: 1. To provide junior African investigators with the most recent data on the pathogenesis of HIV, TB, and Malaria and its implication for vaccine development. 2. To allow junior investigators the opportunity to discuss their own research projects with experts in the field. 3. To foster collaborations and enable and further existing African networks of scientists, where region-specific problems can be addressed in the future.