Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Science and Society
  • Published:

Post-genomic challenges for collaborative research in infectious diseases

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 6, pages 858–864 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Although high-burden pathogens have been prioritized for sequencing, genomic research has yet to yield effective vaccines, diagnostics or therapeutics for the infectious diseases that burden developing countries. International research partnerships are needed more today than ever before, and we propose that increased participation by scientists in endemic areas would overcome current roadblocks and is an essential path towards translational research outcomes.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A comparison of the use of genomic and clinical information in different regions of the world.
Figure 2: The merry-go-rounds that make it difficult for qualified outsiders to enter the research arena.
Figure 3: Success of a journal that is aimed at scientists from developing countries.

References

  1. Pang, T., Gray, M. & Evans, T. A 15th grand challenge for global public health. Lancet 367, 284–286 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Shendure, J., Mitra, R. D., Varma, C. & Church, G. M. Advanced sequencing technologies: methods and goals. Nature Rev. Genet. 5, 335–344 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. De Cock, K. M., Lucas, S. B., Mabey, D. & Parry, E. Tropical medicine for the 21st century. BMJ 311, 860–862 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Salmon, D. E. Reliability of the evidence obtained in the study of contagia. Science 2, 212–213 (1883).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Petti, C. A., Polage, C. R., Quinn, T. C., Ronald, A. R. & Sande, M. A. Laboratory medicine in Africa: a barrier to effective health care. Clin. Infect. Dis. 42, 377–382 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Vaughan, M. Curing Their Ills: Colonial Power And African Illness (Polity, Cambridge, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Daar, A. S. et al. Top ten biotechnologies for improving health in developing countries. Nature Genet. 32, 229–232 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ramsay, S. No closure in sight for the 10/90 health-research gap. Lancet 358, 1348 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Jentsch, B. & Pilley, C. Research relationships between the South and the North: Cinderella and the ugly sisters? Soc. Sci. Med. 57, 1957–1967 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Ogden, J. & Porter, J. The politics of partnership in tropical public health: researching tuberculosis control in India. Soc. Policy Admin. 34, 337–391 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Thorsteinsdottir, H., Daar, A. S., Smith, R. D. & Singer, P. A. Genomics — a global public good? Lancet 361, 891–892 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Parkhill, J. et al. Complete genome sequence of a multiple drug resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi CT18. Nature 413, 848–852 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Gardner, M. J. et al. Genome sequence of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Nature 419, 498–511 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Parry, C. M., Hien, T. T., Dougan, G., White, N. J. & Farrar, J. J. Typhoid fever. N. Engl. J. Med. 347, 1770–1782 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Rutherford, K. et al. Artemis: sequence visualization and annotation. Bioinformatics 16, 944–945 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Simpson, A. J. et al. The genome sequence of the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa. Nature 406, 151–159 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Chan, Y. P., Chua, K. B., Koh, C. L., Lim, M. E. & Lam, S. K. Complete nucleotide sequences of Nipah virus isolates from Malaysia. J. Gen. Virol. 82, 2151–2155 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Pang, T. A global player for public health. An interview with Tikki Pang, Director of Research Policy and Cooperation at the World Health Organization. EMBO Rep. 4, 737–740 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Keiser, J., Utzinger, J., Tanner, M. & Singer, B. H. Representation of authors and editors from countries with different human development indexes in the leading literature on tropical medicine: survey of current evidence. BMJ 328, 1229–1232 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Hassan, M. H. Building capacity in the life sciences in the developing world. Cell 131, 433–436 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Raza, M. Collaborative healthcare research: some ethical considerations. Sci. Eng. Ethics 11, 177–186 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Ntoumi, F., Djimde, A. A., Mbacham, W. & Egwang, T. The importance and future of malaria research in Africa. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 71 (Suppl. 2), IV (2004).

  23. Gonzalez Block, M. A. The state of international collaboration for health systems research: what do publications tell? Health Res. Policy Syst. 4, 7 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Mason, P. The need for a journal of infection in developing countries. JIDC 1, 3–6 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Cho, A. A foot in each country. Science 304, 1286 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Seguin, B., Singer, P. A. & Daar, A. S. Science community: scientific diasporas. Science 312, 1602–1603 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Varmus, H. et al. Public health. Enhanced: grand challenges in global health. Science 302, 398–399 (2003).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Hoffman, S. L., Subramanian, G. M., Collins, F. H. & Venter, J. C. Plasmodium, human and Anopheles genomics and malaria. Nature 415, 702–709 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Sack, D. A., Sack, R. B., Nair, G. B. & Siddique, A. K. Cholera. Lancet 363, 223–233 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Sprinz, H. et al. Biopsy of small bowel of Thai people. With special reference to recovery from Asiatic cholera and to an intestinal malabsorption syndrome. Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 38, 43–51 (1962).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Watten, R. H., Morgan, F. M., Yachai Na, S., Vanikiati, B. & Phillips, R. A. Water and electrolyte studies in cholera. J. Clin. Invest. 38, 1879–1889 (1959).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Rohde, J. & Northrup, R. in Acute Diarrhoea in Childhood Vol. 42 (eds Elliot, K. & Knight, J.) 339–358 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Greenough, W. B. The human, societal, and scientific legacy of cholera. J. Clin. Invest. 113, 334–339 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Colwell, R. R. Global climate and infectious disease: the cholera paradigm. Science 274, 2025–2031 (1996).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. De, S. N. Enterotoxicity of bacteria-free culture-filtrate of Vibrio cholerae. Nature 183, 1533–1534 (1959).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Dutta, N. K., Panse, M. V. & Kulkarni, D. R. Role of cholera toxin in experimental cholera. J. Bacteriol. 78, 594–595 (1959).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Finkelstein, R. A. & LoSpalluto, J. J. Crystalline cholera toxin and toxoid. Science 175, 529–530 (1972).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Levine, M. M., Kaper, J. B., Black, R. E. & Clements, M. L. New knowledge on pathogenesis of bacterial enteric infections as applied to vaccine development. Microbiol. Rev. 47, 510–550 (1983).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Merrell, D. S. et al. Host-induced epidemic spread of the cholera bacterium. Nature 417, 642–645 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Faruque, S. M. et al. Self-limiting nature of seasonal cholera epidemics: role of host-mediated amplification of phage. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 102, 6119–6124 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Bausch, D. G., Sesay, S. S. & Oshin, B. On the front lines of Lassa fever. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 10, 1889–1890 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Monath, T. P., Newhouse, V. F., Kemp, G. E., Setzer, H. W. & Cacciapuoti, A. Lassa virus isolation from Mastomys natalensis rodents during an epidemic in Sierra Leone. Science 185, 263–265 (1974).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Wulff, H., Fabiyi, A. & Monath, T. P. Recent isolations of Lassa virus from Nigerian rodents. Bull. World Health Organ. 52, 609–613 (1975).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Richmond, J. K. & Baglole, D. J. Lassa fever: epidemiology, clinical features, and social consequences. BMJ 327, 1271–1275 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  45. World Health Organization. Final declaration of the sub-regional meeting on Lassa fever control in the Mano River Union Countries [online] (2004).

Download references

Acknowledgements

I.N.O. is a Branco Weiss Fellow of the Society in Science, and J.W. is supported by the Wellcome Trust. We thank A. Protasio (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute), R. Gaind (Safdarjung Hospital), J. Opintan (University of Ghana Medical School), E.M. Obuotor, O. Osoniyi and A. Shittu (Obafemi Awolowo University), S. Kariuki (Kenya Medical Research Institute) and G. Gebre (Jimma University) for sharing their perspectives on access to genomic research in developing countries. We are grateful to A. Bateman (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) for help with analysing ISI data, T. Carver for Artemis download data and the Sanger Institute library staff for providing data for analysis. We thank R. Gaind for help with the figures and G. Langridge for proofreading the final manuscript before submission.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iruka N. Okeke is at the Department of Biology, Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania 19041, USA. iokeke@haverford.edu,

    Iruka N. Okeke

  2. John Wain is at the Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK. jw5@sanger.ac.uk,

    John Wain

Authors
  1. Iruka N. Okeke
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John Wain
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

DATABASES

Entrez Genome Project

Haemophilus influenzae

Plasmodium falciparum

S. Typhi

Vibrio cholerae

FURTHER INFORMATION

African Health Research Forum

Artemis

Genomes OnLine Database

Grand Challenges for Global Health

Journal of Infection in Developing Countries

Mangosteen

Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia

Scientists Without Borders

The Salmonella Network

TWAS

Wellcome Trust Advanced Courses

Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programmes

Iruka N. Okeke's homepage

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Okeke, I., Wain, J. Post-genomic challenges for collaborative research in infectious diseases. Nat Rev Microbiol 6, 858–864 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1989

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1989

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing