SchistoTrack: A community-based, prospective cohort in rural Uganda to examine causes of periportal fibrosis associated with hepatic schistosomiasis

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• Dr Goylette Chami
• Thursday 09 March 2023, 16:00-17:00
• Seminar Room, Tennis Court Road, Dept of Pathology..

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Anna Protasio.

This is a hybrid talk. You can attend in person or via zoom. See abstract for details

Abstract: Periportal fibrosis is a severe morbidity associated with intestinal schistosomiasis, including Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum. These parasitic blood flukes live in the mesenteric venules. The eggs produced by mature female flukes must traverse the intestinal mucosa to be excreted. Only _{50% of the eggs are successfully excreted with the remaining eggs being swept back into the liver and spleen. The inflammation, granulomas, and subsequent fibrosis in and around the portal veins contributes to vascular restructuring within the liver and distinct patterns of fibrosis associated with intestinal schistosomiasis. Understanding the risk factors and predictors of progression within and across individuals is challenging due to imperfect diagnostics, confounders of ongoing treatment, and interacting co-infections within the liver.}

SchistoTrack is a community-based, prospective cohort in Eastern and Western Uganda that aims to assess the within and across individual causes of periportal fibrosis. Nearly 4000 individuals in 52 rural villages are being followed up over five years with detailed clinical examinations and a further ~6000 individuals are assessed with detailed medical histories. This talk will introduce the SchistoTrack Cohort and share preliminary findings on the risk factors for periportal fibrosis, including challenges of diagnosis within a cohort setting and the contributions of coinfections.

Bio: Dr. Chami is an Associate Professor and Robertson Fellow in the Big Data Institute and Nuffield Department of Population Health. Her work combines advanced statistics and machine learning with field epidemiology and parasitology to improve clinical outcomes in East Africa. She leads the Oxford-Uganda Collaboration on Schistosomiasis and the SchistoTrack Cohort. Dr. Chami holds advisory roles for the World Health Organisation on diagnostics and surveillance for neglected tropical diseases in the cross-cutting disease subgroup. She has been endorsed as an Exceptional Promise Academic by the Royal Society in clinical public health, profiled by Nature for her research contributions to infectious disease epidemiology, and awarded the Odile Bain Memorial Prize for advances in medical parasitology. She previously held fellowships and completed MPhil and PhD degrees at the University of Cambridge.

This talk will be broadcasted via Zoom. Please use this link to gain access.

This talk is part of the Parasitology Seminars series.

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