Novel approaches towards Schistosomiasis: Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment:

Among the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis ranks top in terms of disability-adjusted life years (3.3 million DALYs), with more than 230 million people infected and 600 million being at risk of infection. More than 90 % of those requiring treatment for schistosomiasis live in Africa, where both intestinal and urinary forms of the disease occur. The main public health impact of Schistosoma infections is associated with chronic evolutions of the infections leading i.e. to hepatic inflammation that progresses to advanced hepatic disease or to urogenital conditions such as Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) impacting on the fertility and on the predisposition to other gynecological disorders as consequences of S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections, respectively.

The disease is endemic in contexts of poverty since mainly spread due to poor hygiene and sanitation conditions. Diagnostic tools are available but not well-adapted for low- resource settings, thus no point of care strategy for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis has been implemented in endemic countries. Mass drug administration of praziquantel is one of the main control measures against human schistosomiasis, but its targets are usually school-aged children, leaving infants, children under the age of 5 and adults without proper treatment.

The Fusco group is studying novel strategies to improve various aspects of the disease, ranging from prevention to diagnosis and ultimately treatment.

Projects included in this topic:

Past projects:

The impact of ultrasound for clinical decision making and patients management in rural Madagascar: an exploratory study – UMMES

Funding:
Vereinigung der Freunde des Tropeninstituts Hamburg (VdF)
Investigation of a potential protective effect, that chronic schistosomiasis might have towards DENV infections
Jürgen Manchot Stiftung

Duration:
April 2022 – March 2025

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Association between Schistosome infection and malnutrition in Madagascar – nutriMAD

Funding:
University of Hamburg

Duration:
August 2022 – August 2024

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Paving the way for pediatric praziquantel accessibility in Madagascar – PEPRAMA

Partners:
University of Fianarantsoa [Université de Fianarantsoa | Accueil (univ-fianarantsoa.mg)], University of Mahajnaga, Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Merieux (CICM) [A propos du CICM – Centre d'infectiologie Charles MerieuxCICM Madagascar (cicm-madagascar.org)]

@BNITM Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja

Funding:
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung [Startseite | Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (ekfs.de)]

Duration:
December 2021 – December 2023

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Reducing schistosomiasis through aquaculture interventions in Madagascar: a pilot study - RESAMP

Partners:
University of Fianarantsoa [Université de Fianarantsoa | Accueil (univ-fianarantsoa.mg)], University of Antananrivo [website], Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Merieux (CICM) [A propos du CICM – Centre d'infectiologie Charles MerieuxCICM Madagascar (cicm-madagascar.org)], APDRA-Pisciculture paysanne (France) [website], Hamburg University of Applied Sciences [website]

@BNITM Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja – Ralf Krumkamp

Funding:
German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA) [German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA): Global Health] via the German federal ministry of education and research (BMBF) [Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - BMBF]

Duration:
September 2021 – March 2023

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Novel approaches for the management of chronic forms of schistosomiasis: the identification of adapted tools through the Madagascan example – NAMASTE

@BNITM Lidia Bosurgi – Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja – Eva Lorenz – Anna Jäger

Funding:
German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) [Willkommen im DZIF | Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung]

Duration:
January 2021 – December 2025

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Improved diagnostics for schistosomiasis and epidemiology – SCHISDIMA

@BNITM Eva Lorenz – Anna Jäger

Funding:
German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) [Willkommen im DZIF | Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung]

Duration:
June 2018 – April 2021

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Fast and reliable easy-to-use-diagnostics for eliminating Bilharzia in young children and mothers – freeBILy

Partners:
University of Fianarantsoa [Université de Fianarantsoa | Accueil (univ-fianarantsoa.mg)], University of Antananarivo [Université d’Antananarivo (univ-antananarivo.mg)], Centre d’Infectiologie Charles Merieux (CICM) [A propos du CICM – Centre d'infectiologie Charles Merieux CICM Madagascar (cicm-madagascar.org)], University of Leiden [Home - Leiden University (universiteitleiden.nl)], University of Tübingen [Startseite | Universität Tübingen (uni-tuebingen.de)], Center of Medical Research Lambaréné (CERMEL) [cermel.org], IS-Global Barcelona [ISGlobal - Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona - ISGLOBAL]

@BNITM Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja – Eva Lorenz – Anna Jäger

Funding:
European-Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) [Home - EDCTP]

Duration:
February 2018 – December 2023