Undergraduate works in Mali to save lives
By Alyssa Haak, sophomore English major
Dengue and yellow fever are caused by viruses carried by the Aedes mosquito. Virginia Tech senior Christine George is working to fight the spread of these diseases.
As a junior in biological sciences in fall 2006, George was selected into an entomology study course under the guidance of professors Don Mullins and Richard Fell. Included in this two-semester class was a January trip to Mali, where she worked with researchers and physicians from the Malaria Research and Training Center at the Medical University in Bamako. George discovered that Mali did not have any research or work being done on mosquito-borne viruses. Given the abundance of these viruses in that particular African region, she decided this must change.
Having been an undergraduate research assistant in entomology Assistant Professor Zach Adelman’s lab, George was aware of the Vector-Borne Disease Research Group at Virginia Tech. George presented Adelman with her ideas for providing Mali with the preliminary data and education to set up a “sustainable mosquito-borne virus surveillance center.” Her seemingly lofty goals are now well underway. As the saying goes: When you reach for the moon, you land among the stars.
To conduct the necessary research and pay for the trip, George raised $15,000, which was matched by $10,000 from Adelman. She returned to Mali in July 2007 to determine the high-risk areas of mosquito-borne infections and provide enough data and information for the Mali people to apply for additional funding and support.
Phase I has already yielded results. George has established collaborative Virginia Tech-Mali working relations, provided undergraduate and graduate students with valuable training, and determined field infection levels of dengue and yellow fever.
George collected Aedes mosquitoes to test for infection. Malian public health authorities provided 95 samples of human blood that had possibly been infected with yellow fever, to be tested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Dengue Branch, in San Juan. Upon completion, this research will tell government and non-government organizations where to focus vector control, virus surveillance, and medical assistance.
Phase I has already yielded results. George’s project has established collaborative Virginia Tech-Mali working relations, provided undergraduate and graduate students with valuable training, and determined field infection levels of dengue and yellow fever. The researchers noted that increases in infections during September, October, and early November may not be entirely due to these months being the end of the rainy season, when the mosquito population is high. Crop harvesting also occurs during this period and Aedes mosquitoes thrive in the woods and rocks close to fields. Also, nomadic primates, known reservoirs of the diseases, live in the region.
As George explains, “The high density of the vector, plus the presence of a virus reservoir and increased human presence provides the perfect set-up for a mosquito-borne virus outbreak.”
While research continues, Phase II of George’s plan involves training Malian scientists in molecular arbovirology. This training will be provided at Virginia Tech by faculty members in the Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Research Group.
Note: The entomology class’s 2006 travel to Mali was funded by a USDA Higher Education Challenge grant, on which Mullins and Fell are collaborators with faculty members at Montana State University, where Florence V. Dunkel, associate professor of plant sciences and plant pathology, is Principal Investigator of the grant.
Learn more about this project and other undergraduate student research.
