Streptococcus pneumoniae to be examined using Genetic traits

300 wide-ranging and geographically relevant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 will soon be studied by a new Africa-based research consortium based at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW) at the University Of Malawi College Of Medicine (http://www.mlw.medcol.mw) in partnership with teams at the Karonga Prevention Study in Malawi, Niger, South Africa and The Gambia.

The consortium has received $1.5million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study this bacterium that causes serious disease and epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa and will analyse why the bacterium is associated with invasive pneumococcal disease and spreads so quickly, causing outbreaks in some areas of Africa.

Data from the study will also contribute to the current pneumococcal vaccine development programme led by PATH in the USA and feed into the development of a protein-based vaccine that will enhance or replace current Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCVs).

According to Dr Dean Everett who is one of the lead researchers on the project and based in Malawi at MLW: “Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1is one of the biggest causes of pneumococcal disease in sub-Sahara Africa and accounts for a quarter of infections in Malawi.”

“Understanding the genetic traits that underpin serotype 1 and contribute towards its epidemic potential will help us to refine vaccine target discovery and guide the vaccine development process in order to provide better protection to those in sub-Saharan Africa where this serotype is most prevalent. This is an important first step in the process and importantly it will be driven by researchers in Africa.”

Partners organisation involved in the consortium include: Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, University of Malawi College of Medicine, the University of Liverpool; Centre de Recherche Medicale et Sanitaire, Niger; National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa; Medical Research Council, The Gambia; the Wellcome Trust; the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Emory University in the USA.