Tracking diarrhoea-causing bacteria in Pakistan

Partner Institutes
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine	COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

A trail of destruction spread across Pakistan in 2010 in the form of massive floods. Millions were rendered homeless, countless villages were swept away and infrastructure was destroyed. The survivors were hardly lucky, for they had to brave freezing temperatures in makeshift shelters, scrounge for food and worst of all, battle serious illnesses. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea and the deadly cholera, are still the most commonly reported diseases in the flood-affected locations and children are particularly at risk. We have all seen the heartbreaking images of children as young as a month old fighting for their lives as their parents helplessly await a miracle. It may take something less than a miracle to save them after all.

The INSPIRE partnership between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK and the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan aims to develop rapid and inexpensive fingerprinting technology to track diarrhoea-causing bacteria in various drinking water sources. The main objective of this project is to study hospitalised cases of diarrhoea in order to develop effective methodologies for environmental surveillance of water-borne pathogens causing diarrhoea and to better understand how to control the spread of disease.

A research team has carried out sample collection and analysis from various regions and will be examining them in detail. Exchange visits of UK and Pakistan faculty have been planned, as well as a 4 to5 month research attachment for a PhD student from Pakistan. Research in this area is critical for a country like Pakistan where only about 2% of the GDP is spent on health. Four research papers have been produced under this partnership and will be published in international research journals.

Most relief workers agree that clean drinking water is the major precursor to a safe environment not only in the flood-affected areas, but across the country. This INSPIRE project can save the 230,000 children in Pakistan that die of water-borne diseases each year.

Lessons Learnt

• Most relief workers agree that clean drinking water is the major precursor to a safe environment not only in the flood-affected areas, but across the country. This INSPIRE project can help saving the 230,000 children in Pakistan that die of water-borne diseases each year by developing methodologies for quick identification of the potential pathogens in the environment and making use of GIS system the point of isolation of particular pathogen can be shown on the Map. 

Challenges

• In this project the team analysed the Diarrheagenic pathogens particularly V. cholera and different E. coli strains from hospitalized patients admitted to hospitals and makeshift camps of three main flood affected provinces of Pakistan including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Punjab and Sindh as well as sporadic cases of diarrhoea in these provinces.
• Access to some affected areas was a challenge for the project team.

Impact

• This INSPIRE project can help saving thousands of children in Pakistan that die of water-borne diseases each year by developing methodologies for quick identification of the potential pathogens in the environment and making use of GIS system to point out the affected areas.

Key Contacts

Dr. Brenden Wren, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

brendan.wren@lshtm.ac.uk, www.lshtm.ac.uk

Dr. Syed Habib Bokhari, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

habib@comsats.edu.pk, www.ciit.edu.pk