Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health researchers, in collaboration with Ugandan partners, have received a $2.5 million grant from the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine to study bunyavirus immunity and long-term complications.
Bunyaviruses can lead to many illnesses, ranging from mild fevers to serious and sometimes deadly diseases such as hemorrhagic fevers and encephalitis in both children and adults.
People usually contract these viruses from bites of infected mosquitoes, ticks or sandflies. However, hantaviruses, a subgroup, are often spread through contact with excretions from infected rodents.
The Bunyavirus Research into Disease, Global Immunity, and Epidemiology (BRIDGE) project seeks to identify and characterize bunyavirus infections and the long-term impact on patients. The trial will also build a platform for future studies, including the development of therapeutic antibody interventions.
“This research will study survivors of rare infections to understand how these illnesses affect people over time and to help shape future treatments and vaccines. As outbreaks and pandemics become more frequent, learning from past cases is essential, since the timing and location of emerging infections are often unpredictable,” said Paul Blair, MD, MSPH, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt Health and co-investigator.
Additional co-investigators are Stephen Balinandi, PhD, of the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, Uganda; Prossy Naluyima, PhD, of the Makerere University Walter Reed Program in Kampala, Uganda; and Steve Dumler, MD, professor and chair of Pathology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
The project will enroll participants in both Tennessee and Uganda, including people who have survived these emerging and often severe infections, as well as control subjects.
The BRIDGE Tennessee team will focus on Heartland virus and La Crosse virus, and the BRIDGE Uganda team will focus on Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Rift Valley fever virus, and novel viruses. These efforts aim to improve understanding of the long-term effects of infection and to prepare treatments for infection spikes or epidemics.
Researchers will investigate how the immune system responds to bunyavirus infections and any lasting effects that may occur after infection. They will also store participants’ samples to establish a biorepository to support future studies on emerging infections.
A key component of the project is documenting patient outcomes over time, including overall health and quality of life after treatment.
