One Health

Exploring seasonality and arbovirus transmission in Tanzania

Led by Dr Debora Charles Kajeguka at KCMC University in Tanzania and Dr Clare McCormack at Imperial College London in the UK

Arboviruses are a particular type of virus which are spread by invertebrates – animals without a backbone – such as mosquitoes, ticks and sandflies. Arboviruses can cause serious diseases like dengue, haemorrhagic fever and Rift Valley fever, and are a growing public health threat globally. Despite this, limitations in the capacity for monitoring these kinds of diseases mean that scientists have a poor understanding of the true scale of arboviral infection in Africa.

With Foundation funding, a team led by Dr Debora Charles Kajeguka from KCMC University and Dr Clare McCormack from Imperial College London aim to better understand arboviral disease transmission in Tanzania, and how it is impacted by climate change. To do this, they will conduct what are known as ‘seroprevalence surveys’. These involve taking blood samples from participants and measuring the proportion of people with antibodies against a particular infection.

The data collected will be used to inform mathematical and statistical models which estimate changes in the spread of disease over time, and how this is affected by climate and seasonal variation. The team will also study how communities adapt to climate-driven arbovirus risks and work with local stakeholders to find better ways to control the insect populations that are responsible for spreading infection.