Group | Diagnostic Development

Project overview

In the IDSP project we have built an innovative integrated diagnostics and sequencing platform for the characterization and surveillance of emerging and re-emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance development in Tanzania. The project has a strong regional capacity development component with network formation and training of local staff on clinically relevant expertise.
Leveraging excellent pre-existing infrastructure and long-standing productive partnerships, we have maximized synergies by establishing a pathogen-sequencing facility, which serves different clinics and research sites in rural and urban Tanzania. Building up networks of expertise within the country and providing training opportunities for young staff are a central feature of this project. Ultimately, this project aids in improving patient care in Tanzania, enabling the health system to respond more effectively to emerging and re-emerging pathogens and evolving drug resistance, and further promotes innovative science and capacity enhancement in the country.

Goal and research objectives

Building on two long-standing tuberculosis (TB) and HIV patient cohorts in Tanzania and collective expertise by the Swiss TPH, the University Hospital Basel (USB) and Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in pathogen genomics, we have established an innovative integrated pathogen-sequencing platform for HIV-, tuberculosis (TB)- and antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-related issues, as well as pathogen discovery for emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases. This platform has: 

• strengthened  integrated  care  and  diagnostics  in  Tanzania  by  providing  sequence-guided patient treatment and disease surveillance.
• established capacity for characterizing emerging pathogens and AMR;
• trained  diagnostic  personnel  in  molecular  diagnostics  and  pathogen  sequencing  for  AMR determination and improved patient management; and
• enhanced  collaboration  networks  within  Tanzania  to  build  representative  data  collections supporting  national  health  strategies  (i.e., National AIDS control Program (NACP),  National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program (NTLP),  Ministry  of  Health  and  other research groups).

Key problems addressed 

• Currently, there are few facilities to detect and characterize emerging pathogens,
• AMR  is  a  highly  relevant  problem  in  the  management  of  HIV,  TB  and  malaria  patients globally,  but  currently  existing  capacity  and  infrastructure  in  Tanzania  do  not  allow  large-scale detection of AMR for these diseases.
• Detecting  transmission  hot-spots  is  crucial  for  the  control  and  surveillance  of  infectious diseases,  such  as  TB  and  HIV,  but  gene  sequencing  facilities  in  Tanzania  are scarce.
• There  is  a  significant  lack  of  teaching  and  training  facilities  in Tanzania  for  young medical staff  and  researchers  in  the  use  of  molecular  tools  for  routine  medical  work  and  clinical research.