Research Training Program on the Impact of Zoonotic and Vector-borne Viruses, Rickettsiae, and Leptospira in Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illnesses

 描述(申请人提供)：非疟疾急性未分化发热性疾病(AUFIs)是由传染病引起的，没有可识别的感染源或疫源地。 出现未分化发热并在疟疾诊断试验中呈阴性结果的患者。根据小规模的重点研究，AUFIs被认为会导致显著的发病率和死亡率。然而，它们在拉丁美洲的真实发病率仍然不得而知，至少有三个原因：1)在疟疾和登革热的保护伞下，病原体往往被忽视；2)流行病学监测没有适当的诊断工具；3)科学家和卫生保健人员缺乏适当的培训。这一全球传染病研究培训计划的目标是组建一支由来自安提奥基亚大学、国立大学和哥伦比亚热带医学研究所的哥伦比亚科学家组成的强大团队，与德克萨斯大学医学部(UTMB)和加州大学圣地亚哥分校的研究伙伴一起调查非疟疾AUFIs的流行原因。项目教员拥有多样化和互补性的专业知识领域，有助于开展协同研究工作，以预防、诊断和治疗这些被忽视的、经常致命的疾病。为实现本次培训计划的目标，我们将认真提供 计划的中长期培训组合，以满足本提案中确定的需求。具体地说，在该计划的第一年，我们将对哥伦比亚三个参与机构的六名中期(为期六个月)教员进行基本方法方面的培训，以迅速建立基础研究基础设施。此后，UTMB的研究人员将立即前往每个参与机构，为期三周，以协助实施过程。我们将支持该地区各机构之间的培训 通过访问进行国内培训，以及使用先进的通信技术和基于网络的项目、研究成果、议定书和出版物的共同储存库。在该计划02至05年期间，我们将为哥伦比亚当地项目的四名博士生和四名博士后研究员提供长期培训，最长为12个月的境外培训部分。培训期间产生的研究将与当地相关，并将涉及流行病学、生态学、媒介能力和发病机制等多个领域。一个重要的计划成果是提高人类和兽医卫生专业人员以及公共卫生当局对这些疾病的认识。我们还将为这一培训的长期影响和连续性做出贡献。 该计划为我们的长期受训人员提供重新融入社会的小额赠款，并任命哥伦比亚教员为UTMB兼职教员。到05年结束时，我们预计哥伦比亚的三个参与机构将成为南美洲节肢动物传播的病毒和细菌疾病以及钩端螺旋体病研究的杰出中心。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Non-malarial acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses (AUFIs) are caused by infectious diseases, without an identifiable source or focus of infection, in patients who present with undifferentiated fever and have negative results in diagnostic tests for malaria. AUFIs are believed to cause significant morbidity and mortality based on small focal studies. However, their true incidence remains unknown in Latin America for at least three reasons: 1) the etiologic agents tend to be underrecognized under the umbrella of malaria and dengue; 2) epidemiological surveillance without appropriate diagnostic tools; and 3) lack of proper training among scientists and health care personnel. The goal of this Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program is to form a strong team of Colombian scientists from Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad Nacional, and Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical investigating endemic causes of non-malarial AUFIs with researcher partners at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and University of California at San Diego. Program faculty have diverse and complementary areas of expertise conducive to developing synergistic research efforts to target the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of these neglected and frequently lethal diseases. To achieve the goal of this training program, we will offer a carefully planned portfolio of medium- and long-term training to address the needs identified in this proposal. Specifically, during the first year of the Program, we will train six medium-term (six-month duration) faculty members from three participating institutions in Colombia on fundamental methodology to rapidly establish a basic research infrastructure. Immediately thereafter, researchers from UTMB will travel to each participating institution for three weeks to assist in the process of implementation. We will support training across institutions in the region through visits for in-country training and through the use of advanced communication technologies and web-based common repositories of projects, research results, protocols, and publications. During Years 02 to 05 of the Program, we will provide long-term training to four PhD students and four postdoctoral fellows enrolled in local programs in Colombia, with a maximum out-of-country training component of 12 months. The research produced during training will be locally relevant and will address multiple areas in epidemiology, ecology, vector competence, and pathogenesis. An important planned outcome is the increased awareness of these diseases at the level of human and veterinary health professionals, as well as public health authorities. We will also contribute to the long-term impact and continuity of this training program by funding reintegration mini-grants for our long-term trainees and by appointing Colombian faculty as UTMB adjunct faculty members. At the completion of Year 05, we expect the three participating institutions in Colombia to have become centers of excellence in the research of arthropod-borne viral and bacterial diseases and leptospirosis in South America.