Identification and Characterization of Vector-Borne Pathogens and Vector

Jessica Manning and Fabiano Oliveira of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US are leveraging metagenomic next-generation sequencing technology to control vector-borne and enteric diseases in Cambodia. In Phase I, which coincided with the country's worst ever recorded dengue epidemic, they documented the full range of pathogens carried by wild mosquitoes and in serum samples from around 400 febrile patients in a peri-urban hospital in Kampong Speu Province. They also measured antibody reactivity against mosquito saliva in these patients to locate disease hotspots, which were targeted by control efforts. In Phase II, they will expand their approach to 3,000 patients across three urban hospitals (adult, pediatric and maternity) in the capital, and characterize the prevalence and spread of multi-drug resistant Salmonella typhi to better manage the use of antibiotics. They will also train local laboratory technicians, and use open-source tools to produce maps of the data for health officials to track outbreaks.