Pathogen Exchange Study 2 (PES2) - version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving the detection of emerging zoonotic pathogens in forest fringe populations: can we achieve high quality spatio-temporal sampling?
IRAS ID
369348
Contact name
Cyrus Daneshvar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Plymouth
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Many emerging infections (e.g. COVID-19, HIV) cross-over from the wildlife to humans. Indigenous populations living in and around forest-fringes, who have close-contact with wildlife but limited access to healthcare, are particularly vulnerable to emerging infections. Despite this, we currently do not know how to undertake surveillance for emerging infections in these at-risk, hard-to-reach populations.
The overarching aim of this study is to co-develop a decentralised community-led community-sampling intervention package for emerging infections in two indigenous forest-fringe communities in Indonesia and Malaysia. Trained community healthcare workers will collect a range of samples for sequencing, when people in the community experience fevers (a starting point for recognising infections). Sequencing is a process through which all the genetic material in a sample is read, which can help identify known and unknown/newly emerging infections. Using an implementation research framework, we will determine if this approach is feasible, acceptable, achieves high-coverage and provides high-quantities of high-quality genetic material for sequencing, compared to collecting samples at healthcare facilities by trained staff.Once collected, samples must be rapidly processed to ensure the genetic material does not degrade. This is particularly important in hot and humid conditions, which accelerate the degradation process. But, stabilising the genetic material, typically achieved using cold-chain (at -20/-80oC) is not feasible in remote communities. To address this bottleneck, we developed protocols to stabilise the genetic material in blood and stool without cold-chain. In the current study, we also propose to test different samples (e.g. nasopharyngeal swab, oral swabs etc) using this protocol, to determine if it stabilises genetic material from these different samples. For this, we will recruit healthy volunteers and patients presenting with infections in the UK. The data generated will directly inform the samples collected through community-sampling in this study and more broadly inform on how to decentralise genomic surveillance.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/SW/0053
Date of REC Opinion
13 May 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion