The ongoing threats posed by highly infectious viral pathogens necessitate versatile approaches to surveillance strategies. This particularly concerns regions of endemicity or at risk of virus emergence. Nanopore next generation sequencing offers such opportunity to setup molecular epidemiology capacities where needed. In 2024, three partner laboratories in Guinea1,2 and Nigeria3,…
Wastewater-based surveillance is a valuable tool for monitoring pathogen transmission in communities, especially in regions where formal surveillance systems are limited. The aim of the joint study was to implement and evaluate a wastewater-based monitoring system for viral pathogens in São Tomé and Príncipe. For this purpose, water samples were collected…
The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) and Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) conducted a 6-day joint training for veterinarians and laboratory experts. It was organised in cooperation with the Ministério da Saúde and the Ministério de Agricultura, Desenvolvimento Rural e Pescas. The course took place in the Laboratório Nacional de…
Researchers from the lab group Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) and the Laboratório Nacional de Referência da Tuberculose (LNR-TB) in São Tomé investigated the Denge virus (DENV) outbreak in São Tomé and Príncipe in 2022. The intent was to reconstruct…
To address morbidity and mortality associated with Lassa fever, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) and Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) launched the MEVIN project in 2023, which is part of the Global Health Protection Programme (GHPP). The BNITM has enhanced its support to Nigeria in addressing the current…
As part of this new programme phase of GHPP (2023-2025), our project CELESTA focuses on expanding the genomic surveillance capacity for RNA (ribonucleic acid) viruses of our cooperation partners. They are: the Laboratoire de Centre de Recherche en Virologie – Laboratoire des Fièvres Hemorragiques Virales de Guinée (CRV-LFHVG) in Conakry, Guinea,…
Wastewater monitoring system established to investigate the spread of pathogens in the population The aim is to use a wastewater-based surveillance system to investigate the spread of pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, hepatitis A and enteroviruses, as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the population of São Tomé in the long…
Context Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are not able to safely diagnose and adequately respond to pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, such as Ebola or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. Especially in relation to viral haemorrhagic fevers and neglected tropical diseases, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine…
Yet, the 2019 Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria showed a magnitude that was even higher than the unprecedented Lassa fever outbreak in 2018 during the same period. This increase was equally mirrored in the increased workload of the laboratory. In this context, there was a clear need to support…