Opening a New Lassa Fever Ward in Kenema Sierra Leone

描述(由申请人提供)：拉沙热(LF)是一种急性且往往致命的出血性疾病，在西非国家塞拉利昂、几内亚、利比里亚和尼日利亚流行。西非塞拉利昂的凯内马政府医院(KGH)是一个拥有350张床位的设施，位于该地区的中心，是世界上低频肺炎发病率最高的地方。由于LF作为生物恐怖主义和公共卫生威胁的重要性，KGH已经开发了先进的临床和实验室研究能力。KGH目前拥有一个拥有25张床位的Lassa Ward和全职工作人员，完全致力于治疗LF患者。最近，KGH研究团队破土动工，建造了一个新的48张床位的Lassa Ward，它将取代这个历史悠久但陈旧的设施。这是在塞拉利昂新的Lassa Ward开业之际，请求支持NIAID的一次会议。我们会议计划的具体目标是：1.纪念新的Lassa Ward的开业，反思LF的历史、社会和科学影响，并提高公众对LF在塞拉利昂和西非次区域持续影响的认识；2.召集几代LF专家，他们本来可能没有机会会面，分享和辩论他们的最新发现，并确定未来的目标；3.举办培训演习和研讨会，展示西非LF临床和实验室研究的新能力；4.整合临床和基础研究结果，以确定我们对LF的知识和理解中最关键的差距，以及哪些步骤可以帮助未来的研究；5.促进合作，以更快的步伐推进LF研究，包括疫苗和治疗开发。为拉沙热政策和计划的研究和实施中尚未解决的挑战制定创造性的解决方案；6.为参加本次会议的研究生、博士后实习生、初级教员和服务不足和代表性不足的利益攸关方团体成员提供资金；7.创造一个有助于会议成功概率的环境，并提供足够的支持、设备和其他物质资源。我们将讨论我们在病毒学、免疫学、流行病学和拉沙热自然病史方面的许多最新突破。在这次公开会议中，我们希望将来自几代科学家的关于LF的专家聚集在一起，并涵盖广泛的主题。我们将邀请任何有兴趣的人参加，同时保持选择最终参与者名单的统一标准。我们预计，来自西非各地以及美国、南美、欧洲、亚洲和其他地区的科学家将参加这次及时的会议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Lassa fever (LF) is an acute and often fatal hemorrhagic disease that is endemic in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) in Sierra Leone, West Africa is a 350-bed facility situated in the heart of the region with the highest incidence in the world of LF. Because of the importance of LF as a bioterrorism and public health threat, KGH has developed an advanced clinical and laboratory research capacity. KGH currently maintains a 25-bed Lassa Ward and full-time staff completely dedicated to the care of patients with LF. Recently, the KGH research team has broken ground on a new 48-bed Lassa Ward that will replace this historic, but timeworn facility. This is a request for support of a one-time NIAID conference in association with opening of the new Lassa Ward in Sierra Leone. The Specific Aims of our Conference Plan are to 1. Commemorate the opening of the new Lassa Ward, reflect on the historical, societal and scientific impact of LF, and increase public awareness of the continued impact of LF in Sierra Leone and the West African subregion; 2. Assemble several generations of experts on LF who may otherwise not have an opportunity to meet to share and debate their latest findings and to define goals for the future; 3. Present training exercises and workshops to showcase new capabilities in West Africa for LF clinical and laboratory research; 4. Integrate clinical and basi research findings to identify the most critical gaps in our knowledge and understanding of LF and what steps could aid future studies; 5. Promote collaborations to move LF research, including vaccine and therapeutic development, forward at a faster pace. Develop creative solutions to unresolved challenges in research and implementation of Lassa fever policies and programs; 6. Provide funds to graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, junior faculty members, and members of under-served and under-represented stakeholder groups for the purpose of attending this conference, and 7. Create a setting that will contribute to the probability of success of the conference, and provide adequate support, equipment and other physical resources. We will discuss the many recent breakthroughs in our understanding of the virology, immunology, epidemiology and natural history of Lassa fever. In this open meeting we hope to bring together experts on LF from several generations of scientists and to cover a broad range of subject matter. We will invite anyone interested to attend, while maintaining uniform standards for selecting the final list of participants. We anticipate that scientists from across West Africa as well as from the United States, South America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere will attend this timely conference.