Enhancing research on (tick-borne) zoonotic infections in the Congo Basin with molecular laboratory tools

Summary

The Congo basin is a biodiversity hotspot for various plant and animal taxa, but also for infectious diseases. Several zoonotic infections naturally circulate in the region and frequently emerge from wildlife reservoirs. Many of these are transmitted via arthropod vectors such as ticks. Domestic animals like dogs can relatively easily transport ticks and their infections from natural to human-dominated habitats. Tick-borne infections that normally circulate among wildlife thus have an important ecological potential to emerge in human populations. To be able to mitigate the risk of emergence of tick-borne infections, we identify two major needs in Tshopo province, Democratic Republic of Congo: (1) increased capacity of carrying out laboratory tests for the (early) detection, identification and characterization of zoonotic infectious diseases, and (2) increased awareness of the risks posed to both humans and domestic animals themselves by ticks infesting domestic animals. In this Short Initiatives project, we propose to leverage the past and ongoing research on biodiversity, zoonoses and tick ecology at the Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité of the University of Kisangani to (1) include the laboratory skills and capacity to detect and characterize zoonotic and tick-borne infections locally, and (2) to increase awareness and the capacity to mitigate tick-borne infections in the local communities. Our actor of change will be Steve Ngoy, an expert in tick ecology, biosafety procedures and mammal sampling. He will undergo extensive training at UAntwerp and KU Leuven to conduct advanced molecular laboratory assays on ticks collected from domestic animals. Additionally, he will work alongside master students to raise awareness of tick-borne infections in local communities and educate them on safe tick removal techniques, while increasing his collection of ticks from domestic animals. The laboratory skills will next be propagated to other researchers at CSB-UNIKIS through a local laboratory training workshop. Taken together, we foresee that this project will significantly contribute to the epidemic and pandemic preparedness in Tshopo, DRC.

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