Integrate
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Fully Integrated, real-time detection, diagnosis and control of community diarrhoeal disease clusters and outbreaks
IRAS ID
173789
Contact name
Sarah J O'Brien
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 12 months, 0 days
Research summary
Seventeen million people suffer a diarrhoeal disease every year. These diseases often lead to outbreaks of infections, like norovirus - now among the costliest infectious burdens on the NHS. The sooner diseases are detected, the sooner they can be brought under control - limiting their health and financial impact. We know from outbreaks of Escherichia coli O104 in Germany and O157 at Godstone Farm in Surrey that surveillance is key to detection; but with fewer people now consulting their GP over diarrhoea, outbreaks are increasingly tricky to detect using traditional methods. This hides the true burden of disease. We will use data from multiple sources to scout for infection in the community, take samples and analyse them, using modern technology to detect organisms. We will analyse the DNA of microbes to discover which family of organisms they belong to and how they are evolving. Since many diarrhoeal diseases can pass between humans and animals we will develop and integrate veterinary and medical surveillance. Our goal is an integrated real-time, surveillance/diagnosis/investigation system - centred on the patient - that detects community outbreaks sooner, enables Health Protection professionals and Environmental Health Officers to intervene quickly and thus lessen short- and long-term harm.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0233
Date of REC Opinion
19 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion