Ugandans to research on Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever virus
Director UVRI Prof Pontiano Kaleebu (second left), Dr Maxwell Onapa Otim commissioner in the ministry of Agrculture (middle) with other health experts. PHOTO/EVE MUGANGA
What you need to know:
- Stressing the importance of the research, Ms Thomson noted that the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus presents similar symptoms to malaria yet there are no good diagnostic tests.
Scientists attached to the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) plan to conduct research on the Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever virus (CCHF) in Uganda. This was revealed during the launch of the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) project at UVRI head offices in Entebbe, Wakiso District, at the weekend.
Prof Pontiano Kaleebu, the director at UVRI, said there are many infections, like viruses, bacteria, and protozoa that are transmitted by ticks to animals, from animals to humans, or even between animals.
“To understand how these viruses are transmitted, we need to study ticks, which are some of the vectors that carry these viruses. Uganda is one of the countries where we see a lot of outbreaks caused by viruses. We saw Mpox, and Ebola, but also saw viruses that are transmitted by ticks, and one of the common ones is Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus that affects animals and humans and can be a fatal disease.”
“But there are other viruses that are also transmitted by ticks. So, we're here today to launch a very important project that is going to look at how these viruses are transmitted,” he added. Prof Kaleebu noted that scientists would conduct experimental infection studies, field studies, mathematical modelling, and also look at vaccine development, among others, during the research.
“We will infect sheep with a relatively mild virus (Nairobi Sheep Disease Virus) to monitor how prior exposure to related viruses affects disease severity and the ability of the virus to spread via ticks. We will also study tick and livestock populations across Uganda to map virus diversity. We'll look at how the presence or absence of different viruses affects infection rates in livestock, ticks, and people,” he said.
Prof Kaleebu added that they would build models to predict how virus diversity influences the chances of new diseases emerging.
Prof Kaleebu further noted that UVRI has assembled an international, multidisciplinary team of field ecologists, virologists, immunologists, and mathematical modellers from the UK, USA, Kenya, and Uganda. “Together, we are tackling one of the most urgent scientific challenges of our time understanding and preventing the next viral pandemic,’’ the UVRI director added.
Prof Moffat Nyirenda, the director of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM), emphasised that the launch of the project builds a strong foundation for collaboration and support from both MRC, UVRI, and US funders’’.
The Acting Director of MRC, University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), Prof Emma Thomson, said the project aims to understand more about the burden of disease in relation to the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus, which carries symptoms similar to the Ebola virus.
“It’s quite a dangerous virus with a mortality rate between one in three and one in two,” she explained.
Stressing the importance of the research, Ms Thomson noted that the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus presents similar symptoms to malaria yet there are no good diagnostic tests.
She stated: “So, part of our work will involve seeking measures to diagnose CCHF, but also to better understand the relationship between this virus and other viruses, which are close cousins and also exist in the environment, and we think may help to protect people.”
Ms Thomson revealed that the project would take five years and would cost more than $5.5 million (about Shs20.2 billion).
The research work in the communities will be led by Dr Sheila Atim and Dr Yofesi Nikweri. Dr Julius Lutwama , the head of the Department of Arbovirology , Emerging, and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases at UVRI, noted that while a lot has been done with tick-borne diseases and the ticks themselves, more research needs to be done on Crimean -Congo Hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) done.
“CCHF was not very common in the recent past, but we are now getting cases of CCHF. CCHF is endemic, but we are doing little about it, yet we need to do much more,’’ he noted.
Building models
"Our models will help us understand when and where outbreaks are most likely. We are also testing the idea of ‘portfolio vaccines’ made from multiple related viruses to establish if they can give broader protection, even against viruses that haven’t yet emerged," UVRI director.
