Researchers to discover new ways to better understand tuberculosis transmission in Africa

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Glasgow (UoG), is aiming to discover new ways to better understand and tackle tuberculosis (TB) transmission in Africa.

Led by Professor Peter MacPherson, from UoG’s School of Health & Wellbeing, the team has been awarded a £2.9m Wellcome Discovery Award for the ZAMSA-TB Study, which aims to discover new methods to understand recent TB transmission in Africa, target interventions such as new TB vaccines, and measure their effectiveness. The project will also support the development of a group of world-leading African scientists and epidemiologists equipped to tackle TB.

Co-applicant Professor Molebogeng Rangaka of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) at UCT and the Institute for Global Health, University College London, said: “I am excited to work with a stellar team of TB researchers to discover new epidemiological tools for understanding and tracking ongoing transmission and for evaluating novel interventions for TB prevention such as vaccines. I am particularly excited about the opportunity for training and developing the next cohort of leaders in TB research.”

The prestigious Wellcome Discovery Award scheme provides funding for internationally-leading researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding that could improve human life, health and wellbeing.

TB is the leading infectious killer globally. In Africa, TB is becoming increasingly concentrated in densely-populated cities, often driven by HIV infection, and poor, crowded living conditions. New TB drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics are now being tested, but methods for measuring their impact on public health are lacking.

The team will discover new epidemiological methods to measure recent population patterns of TB transmission based on blood tests of young children attending primary clinics in busy cities.

By modelling patterns of TB infection at high spatial resolution and over time, they will investigate the potential for this new approach to give rapid, accurate insights into the effectiveness of new TB interventions – such as vaccines – against transmission.

Professor MacPherson and Co-applicants Professor Lele Rangaka (Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, UCT, and University College London), Dr James Chirombo (Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi), and Dr Kwame Shanaube (Zambart, Lusaka, Zambia) will focus their study on three countries - South Africa, Malawi, and Zambia - that are priority sites for future TB vaccine roll-out.

Professor MacPherson said: "We are very grateful to Wellcome for funding this exciting study. TB is a leading global infectious killer. If the bold aims of this project are successful, we anticipate that the impact could be transformative for efforts to end TB, and might even be used for other infections targeted for elimination. We hope that our methods will guide better-targeted screening and prevention interventions and discover new methods to evaluate the population impact of new TB vaccines, screening, and preventive interventions.”