SUSTAINABLE SCIENCES INSTITUTE

RESEARCH ON INFECTIOUS DISEASE IN NICARAGUASSI CARRIES OUT RESEARCH ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN NICARAGUA WITH COMMITTED RESEARCH FUNDING OF APPROXIMATELY $7 MILLION OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS FROM GOVERNMENT SOURCES (NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, US AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT) VIA DIRECT AWARDS AND SUBCONTRACTS FROM LARGE RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, MT. SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY). SSI ALSO RECEIVES FUNDING FROM PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS (IBRAHIM EL-HEFNI TECHNICAL TRAINING FOUNDATION, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION, INSTITUTO SLIM PARA LA SALUD, UBS OPTIMUS FOUNDATION) AND CONTRACTS FROM SMALLER PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS (SEVIDENT, PAXVAX).IN 2016, THE ZIKA PANDEMIC HIT LATIN AMERICA, INCLUDING OUR SITE IN NICARAGUA, REVEALING ZIKA'S RELATIONSHIP TO DEVASTATING CONGENITAL BIRTH DEFECTS.IN COLLABORATION WITH NICARAGUAN COLLEAGUES, SSI REFOCUSED ITS EXISTING DENGUE AND CHIKUNGUNYA RESEARCH TO ADDRESS URGENT QUESTIONS ABOUT ZIKA; EFFORTS TO DEVELOP AND EVALUATE NEW DIAGNOSTIC AND RESEARCH TECHNIQUES WERE INCORPORATED INTO EXISTING HOSPITAL AND COHORT STUDIES. SSI ALSO LAUNCHED STUDIES OF ZIKA'S INCIDENCE AND HOUSEHOLD TRANSMISSION PATTERNS, A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ZIKA IN PREGNANT WOMEN AND INFANTS, AND AN INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR ZIKA PREVENTION. THIS INTEGRATED APPROACH ENABLES STUDY OF ZIKA'S CLINICAL ASPECTS, EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSES, MODELING OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN IMMUNE RESPONSES, AND EXPANSION OF COMMUNITY-BASED EFFORTS TO PREVENT ZIKA AS WELL AS DENGUE. THIS RESEARCH CONTINUES TO SHOWCASE OUR COLLABORATING SITE IN NICARAGUA WHICH HAS BECOME INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FOR ARBOVIRUS DIAGNOSIS, RESEARCH AND EPIDEMIOLOGY.IN NICARAGUA, SSI'S STUDIES HAVE RECEIVED FAVORABLE NATIONAL PRESS, STRONG GOVERNMENT SUPPORT, AND HIGH REGARD WITHIN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE WORK IS CONDUCTED.FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS, SSI HAS BEEN WORKING TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF INFLUENZA AND OTHER RESPIRATORY VIRUS INFECTIONS IN NICARAGUA. IN LATE 2015, SSI-NICARAGUA WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF FOUR SITES TO CONDUCT A CDC-FUNDED STUDY EXAMINING INFLUENZA PREVENTION AMONG INFANTS THROUGH VACCINATION. THIS STUDY, AND ANOTHER EXAMINING INFLUENZA TRANSMISSION WITHIN HOUSEHOLDS, ARE CONDUCTED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE NICARAGUAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. SSI RECEIVES CONTINUED SUPPORT OF ITS INFLUENZA COHORT STUDY FROM THE NIH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR INFLUENZA RESEARCH AND SURVEILLANCE AT THE ST. JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL.SSI, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NICARAGUAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND THE UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, CONTINUES TO OPERATE THE PEDIATRIC DENGUE COHORT STUDY (NOW IN ITS 14TH YEAR) AND THE HOSPITAL-BASED STUDY (NOW IN ITS 20TH YEAR) IN MANAGUA. THESE COHORT STUDIES SUPPLY THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND BIOREPOSITORY THAT ALLOWS SSI AND ITS PARTNERS TO BE LEADERS IN GLOBAL ARBOVIRUS RESEARCH. EACH YEAR APPROXIMATELY 3,600 CHILDREN PARTICIPATE PROVIDING INVALUABLE BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES USED TO STUDY DETERMINANTS OF PROTECTION FROM, AND RISK OF, DENGUE, ZIKA AND CHIKUNGUNYA DISEASE. IN 2017, OUR RESEARCH RESULTED IN A NUMBER OF HIGH-IMPACT PUBLICATIONS AND SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS. SSI IS ADAPTING ITS DENGUECHAT TOOL FOR COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH ON ZIKA. THE DENGUECHAT TOOL, DEVELOPED AT UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY, IS A FREE TECHNOLOGY THAT SUPPORTS COMMUNITY-LEVEL MOSQUITO CONTROL EFFORTS. THE PLATFORM ALLOWS A HEALTH TEAM - BRIGADISTAS DE SALUD Y VIDA - TO CAPTURE ENTOMOLOGICAL DATA, VISUALIZE HIGH-RISK AREAS, AND MEASURE IMPACT OVER TIME. DENGUECHAT EMPOWERS THE COMMUNITY TO PRODUCE AND SYSTEMATIZE LOCAL, REAL-TIME DATA TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT MOSQUITO CONTROL TO PREVENT DENGUE, CHIKUNGUNYA AND ZIKA. THE PLATFORM'S BLOG ALLOWS COMMUNITY BRIGADES TO CONNECT, COMPETE, AND SHARE INFORMATION ENCOURAGING THEM TO BECOME KEY MOTIVATORS IN COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION AND HEALTH PROMOTION EFFORTS. IN THE FIVE COMMUNITIES WHERE DENGUECHAT WAS PILOTED, SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN MOSQUITO INFESTATION WAS MEASURED. WE ARE ADAPTING THIS PLATFORM TO ZIKA WITH THE AIM MONITORING VECTOR INFESTATION AND TRACKING ZIKA RISK IN MANAGUA'S URBAN AND RURAL NEIGHBORHOODS.