TuNDRA & TuNDRA PLUS: Real-Time Tracking of Neglected Bacterial Diseases and Resistance Patterns in Asia

Short Description

Since 2017, the TuNDRA project has been supported by the Global Health Protection Programme of the German Federal Ministry of Health. The project is carried out by a consortium consisting of the Robert Koch Institute, the International Vaccine Institute and partner institutions in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Hospital-based infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance is conducted in the three Asian countries. This includes on-site pathogen surveillance for the characterization of pathogen resistance patterns using whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses to investigate transmission pathways. Data collected through the project are being integrated with global databases that are run and maintained by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’s Center for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance, Cambridge, UK and the Big Data Institute in Oxford, UK.

As of March 2019 a new surveillance site in Mirzapur, Bangladesh will be included as a rural site in addition to the existing urban sites. This site offers the possibility of assessing incidences of AMR using data from an ongoing demographic surveillance system in the area. In all 4 sites PCR diagnostics for identification of infections caused by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) will be performed.

Aims of the Project

• stablishing and supporting an AMR surveillance network and through TuNDRA PLUS ensuring its expansion to a well-defined rural setting
• State-of-the art RSV diagnostics in all study sites (Vietnam, Cambodia, urban and rural Bangladesh)
• Assessing the economic burden of laboratory-confirmed enteric and respiratory infections and in particular assessing the economic burden of AMR
• Establishing sustainable structures including education and advanced training of clinical and laboratory staff, of scientists and project managers
• Support to participating countries on becoming potential early-adopters for new vaccines to combat AMR

Budget per year

• TuNDRA: approx. 324,000 EUR
• TuNDRA PLUS: approx 424,000 EUR

In Cooperation with

• Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), Bangladesh
• Kumudini Hospital Mirzapur, Bangladesh
• Cambodia-Oxford Medical Research Unit (COMRU), Angkor Hospital for Children, Cambodia
• Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Vietnam
• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), United Kingdom
• Big Data Institute (BDI), United Kingdom
• International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Seoul, South Korea