Our International TB Projects
To solve a major global health problem like tuberculosis, effective international partnerships are critical. The Centenary Institute has a number of research projects that involve connections around the world.
Vietnam: Partners in the fight against TB
Vietnam has an estimated 180,000 new cases per year of tuberculosis and it is one of the 22 countries that account for 80% of the world’s TB burden. That’s why the Centenary Institute has established a strong research partnership with the National Turberculosis Program of Vietnam. The Centenary Institute is involved in three research projects in Vietnam with plans to expand the collaboration further.
Genetic susceptibility to tuberculosis
Professor Warwick Britton, Dr Bernadette Saunders and Dr Greg Fox are conducting a study at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi to examine the genetic susceptibility traits of the Vietnamese population. The study will involve taking blood samples from 600 people with TB and 500 people without TB (known as ‘controls’).
In particular, the initial analysis of the samples will focus on looking at the immune cells in which the TB bacteria resides, however, they are also the cell responsible for killing the invading TB bacteria.
Dr Saunders said: “We hope this study will uncover new genes that influence resistance or susceptibility to TB infection and determine how these genes regulate these processes. Ultimately, we hope this knowledge will help us develop a test to identify the person at highest risk of developing active TB.”
We have also submitted an application to expand the recruitment to 1000 patients and 1000 controls, with the possibility of more extensive genetic testing in the coming year.
Controlling tuberculosis in the community
Professor Warwick Britton from the Centenary Institute and Professor Guy Marks from the Woolcock Institute are working with PhD student Dr Greg Fox to undertake studies into the prevalence of active tuberculosis among household contacts of tuberculosis patients. Family members are at higher risk of contracting the infection so they are likely to benefit from an active screening program.
The team have been conducting a pilot study in 4 districts in Hanoi which began in 2009 and the results from the first year showed there is a positive case for actively screening people living in a household with someone who has TB. Recruitment for this pilot study will continue until December 2010, with follow-up until December 2012.
This pilot study has been crucial in helping secure funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for a second, much larger study, which is a randomised controlled trial of active screening of household contacts. The NHMRC funding to the University of Sydney will enable the Centenary Institute and the Woolcock Institute to fund a five-year study involving 71 District Clinics throughout 8 Provinces in the north, centre and south of Vietnam.
This study will be a major new direction in tuberculosis control in Vietnam and could play an important role in informing future public health policy in Vietnam. The results of the study will be available by the end of 2014 and it's hoped that it will help not only Vietnam but also other countries with high rates of TB.
Growing links with the Vietnam's National Tuberculosis Program
These three studies represent a strong collaboration between the Centenary Institute, the Woolcock Institute, the University of Sydney and the National Tuberculosis Program in Vietnam. Our partners in Hanoi are keen to expand our collaboration in the future with a longer term commitment to tuberculosis and lung disease research.
Future research projects are currently being developed. The Centenary plans to continue help expanding the research capacity of the National Lung Hospital over coming years and we hope to introduce additional exchange programs to bring Vietnamese staff to Australia for further training.
More about our Vietnam partnerships here.
Singapore: Teaching an old drug new tricks
Dr Nick West from the Centenary Institute along with Dr Jamie Triccas from the University of Sydney have formed a partnership with leading experts from the National University of Singapore (NUS) to investigate resistance to ethionamide, which is a drug used to treat tuberculosis when others have failed.
Centenary Institute Mycobacterial Group Senior Researcher Dr Nick West has recently compiled an extensive library of 15,000 mutants of tuberculosis bacteria – one of the world’s largest libraries of mutant tuberculosis strains. This is a huge feat in itself but now a grant from the University of Sydney International Program Fund will allow Dr West and Dr Triccas to team up with Dr Sylvie Alonso from NUS to screen the thousands of strains to identify which of these are resistant to ethionamide.
Dr West said: “Each year, tuberculosis kills almost two million people worldwide and this is often caused by drug resistance, which is a major challenge in treating tuberculosis. Globally, five per cent of all new cases of tuberculosis are drug resistant and, in some regions of the world, this number can be as high as three in five cases being resistant to the front line drugs.
“To help overcome this problem, our collaboration with the National University of Singapore could uncover vital information about how drug resistance occurs against this important drug. If we can learn how the bacteria tolerates this drug, we may be able to find a way to overcome this and make the drug effective again.”
Taiwan: raising awareness about TB
Centenary Institute senior researcher Dr Nick West will visit Taiwan during World TB Day 2011 to increase awareness and understanding of TB control.
The visit is being funded through a grant from the Australia China Council (ACC), which supports visits and projects to showcase Australia's achievements in science, technology, arts, and culture overseas. In support of ACC, we have hosted the visits from leading researchers such as Professor Fiona Wood and Professor Suzanne Cory.
According to the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control (CDC) about 300 school children or adolescents contract TB every year. It is hoped that Dr West’s visit will help raise awareness of TB in Taiwan.
Dr West will talk to senior government officials, leading hospitals, research institutes and key medical professional meetings to share Australia’s expertise and achievements in TB research. Dr West will also deliver a series of talks in Taiwanese high schools and college campuses to inspire Taiwanese youth to consider a career in science.
Please join the Centenary Institute TB team and contribute to our research to overcome TB. Visit www.tb.org.au or click the button on the left to donate.
