Last month, Florey Institute members Dr Claire Turner and Dr Thushan de Silva travelled to the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM for the first collaborators meeting and symposium for group A Streptococcus in West Africa.
They were joined by Dr Annette Erhart, Prof Martin Antonio, Dr Abdul Karim Sesay, Prof. Beate Kampmann, Dr. Anna Roca and Dr Edwin Armitage from the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, Prof Pierre Smeesters from Universite libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, Dr. Soumeya Ouangraoua from Centre Muraz, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso and Dr. Abdallah Sonko from Hôpital pour enfants Albert Royer, Dakar, Senegal. This was the first face-to-face meeting of all those involved in the GCRF ODA, University of Sheffield funded project on group A Streptococcal Pyoderma in The Gambia ‘SpyDERM’ and the MRC BactiVac Network funded project Molecular Epidemiology of Group A Streptococcus in West Africa (MEGAS).
They were joined by Dr Annette Erhart, Prof Martin Antonio, Dr Abdul Karim Sesay, Prof. Beate Kampmann, Dr. Anna Roca and Dr Edwin Armitage from the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, Prof Pierre Smeesters from Universite libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, Dr. Soumeya Ouangraoua from Centre Muraz, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso and Dr. Abdallah Sonko from Hôpital pour enfants Albert Royer, Dakar, Senegal. This was the first face-to-face meeting of all those involved in the GCRF ODA, University of Sheffield funded project on group A Streptococcal Pyoderma in The Gambia ‘SpyDERM’ and the MRC BactiVac Network funded project Molecular Epidemiology of Group A Streptococcus in West Africa (MEGAS).
RHD is a significant cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality in The Gambia with group A Streptococcus (GAS) being the trigger for this post-infection immune sequelae. Skin infections (pyoderma) may be more commonly associated with RHD in this region compared to pharyngitis in other countries. There is remarkably little data on the molecular epidemiology of GAS isolates from West Africa, which makes assessing regional suitability of vaccines in development extremely difficult. Through the collaborations that have now been formed between the Florey Institute in Sheffield, Belgium, The Gambia, Burkina Faso and Senegal, we will be providing crucial epidemiology and molecular insight into GAS disease in West Africa, supporting the development of a desperately needed vaccine.
The meeting provided project updates and inspiring research presentations and discussions. The week ended with a workshop on Bioinformatics hosted by Dr Claire Turner and Saikou Bah. Saikou is a Gambian post-doctoral scientist and bioinformatician, who will be joining the University of Sheffield in July as a GCRF post-doctoral fellow working with Claire and Thushan to explore the pathogenesis of GAS isolates from The Gambia and UK.
