Researchers to discover new ways to better understand tuberculosis transmission in Africa
Published: 17 September 2024
An international team of researchers, led by the University of Glasgow, is aiming to discover new ways to better understand and tackle tuberculosis (TB) transmission in Africa
An international team of researchers, led by the University of Glasgow, is aiming to discover new ways to better understand and tackle tuberculosis (TB) transmission in Africa.
Led by Professor Peter MacPherson, from the University’s School of Health & Wellbeing, the team has been awarded a £2.9m Wellcome Discovery Award for the ZAMSA-TB Study, which aims to discover new methods to understand recent TB transmission in Africa, target interventions such as new TB vaccines, and measure their effectiveness. The project will also support the development of a group of world-leading African scientists and epidemiologists equipped to tackle TB.
The prestigious Wellcome Discovery Award scheme provides funding for internationally-leading researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.
TB is the leading infectious killer globally. In Africa, TB is becoming increasingly concentrated in densely-populated cities, often driven by HIV infection, and poor, crowded living conditions. New TB drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics are now being tested in Africa, but methods for measuring their impact on public health are lacking.
Professor MacPherson and Co-Investigators Dr James Chirombo (Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi), Dr Kwame Shanaube (Zambart, Lusaka, Zambia), and Professor Lele Rangaka (University College London and the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa) will focus their study on three countries - Malawi, South Africa, Zambia - that are priority sites for future TB vaccine roll-out.
The team will discover new epidemiological methods to measure recent population patterns of TB transmission based on blood tests of young children aged attending primary clinics in busy cities.
By modelling patterns of TB infection at high spatial resolution and over time, they will investigate the potential for this new approach to give rapid, accurate insights into the effectiveness of new TB interventions – such as vaccines – against transmission.
Professor MacPherson said: "We are very grateful to Wellcome for funding this exciting study. TB is a leading global infectious killer. If the bold aims of this project are successful, we anticipate that the impact could be transformative for efforts to end TB, and might even be used for other infections targeted for elimination. We hope that our methods will guide better-targeted screening and prevention interventions and discover new methods to evaluate the population impact of new TB vaccines, screening, and preventive interventions.”
Dr James Chirombo, from the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme, said: “This is an excellent opportunity towards ending TB transmission in a setting with rapid population growth and urbanisation that has led to informal over-crowded settlements. Coupled with a high HIV burden, these conditions continue to provide an enabling environment for continued transmission. This project will allow us to find hidden hotspots cost-effectively for better control of TB infections. We are very thankful to Wellcome for this funding.”
Dr Lele Rangaka from the Institute for Global Health, University College London, and University of Cape Town, said: “I am excited to work with a stellar team of TB researchers to discover new epidemiological tools for understanding and tracking ongoing transmission and for evaluating novel interventions for TB prevention such as vaccines. I am particularly excited about the opportunity for training and developing the next cohort of leaders in TB research.”
Dr Kwame Shanaube, from ZAMBART, Zambia said: “In Zambia and across the world, TB remains a major public health challenge. While huge strides have been made towards its elimination, some regions such as Africa remain disproportionately affected. Our project study has the potential to reshape how we understand and track TB transmission and evaluate interventions against it. The tools and methods we develop could provide a generalizable global framework to help us reach the finish line of ending TB. We are deeply thankful to Wellcome for supporting this important research, and we are excited about the south-to-south knowledge transfer and capacity development that will emanate from the project.”
Enquiries: ali.howard@glasgow.ac.uk or elizabeth.mcmeekin@glasgow.ac.uk
First published: 17 September 2024