University of Florida Veterinary Students Travel to Africa as Part of USDA-sponsored Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Study

Each year, more than five hundred veterinary students from top veterinary schools choose from a wide array of research projects at dozens of academic and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) labs across the US as part of the Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Program. This summer, two students from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine chose to reach – and travel – even further by conducting fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania as part of a USDA-sponsored study into Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

 Danae Witte and Nicole Perry, both of whom will begin their second year of veterinary studies at the University of Florida this fall, were intrigued by this special opportunity to assist with research and monitoring of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

 “It seemed like a cool experience as a veterinarian to do surveillance that helps animals and humans, at the absolute intersection of human and animal health,” recalled Danae Witte of her reaction when reviewing the many research opportunities available this summer as part of the Veterinary Scholars Program.

Danae Witte spent two months in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo this summer, collecting blood samples across a variety of animal species, processing the samples to analyze serum for antibody response to gauge the level of exposure to and prevalence of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. She also created surveys to enable use of digital tablets in field collection and standardized measures (e.g. animal’s health condition and weight) for collection of data.

 

 Nicole Perry has long had interest in infectious disease and public health and is jointly pursuing a doctorate in veterinary medicine and master’s degree in public health at the University of Florida. This summer she divided her time between the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine One Health Institute and collaborators at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. She worked on protocol development and refinement of laboratory techniques in the research group led by Dr. Brian Bird, Professor of Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases at UC Davis, where she also had a chance to observe other global health projects underway at the school’s One Health Institute.

In Tanzania, she was part of a team conducting diagnostic analyses of previously collected ticks and sampled livestock to check for virus infection and prepare for detailed genomic analyses, enhancing her lab techniques (e.g., PCR testing) and experiencing life as a researcher at the front lines of a significant public health threat.

“While the prospect of travelling to and working in Africa was daunting, it was an amazing experience,” reflected Nicole. “The chance to interact with, learn from and work side-by-side with scientists and technicians from different disciplines, backgrounds and experiences taught me so much. While we may have different techniques and perspectives, we are all working together toward the same goal, and the results of our work are more rigorous and impactful because of the diversity of thinking and approaches.”

The study which Danae and Nicole helped support this summer is a collaboration between the USDA, L'Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale in the DRC, UC Davis and UCLA, to establish protocols and sites for monitoring the spread of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever across Central, East, and West Africa.

“One of the most enjoyable aspects of my work has been the chance to do fieldwork, so facilitating this opportunity for Danae and Nicole to travel to Africa to experience fieldwork at its most impactful is so rewarding,” shared Dr. Lisa Hensley, Research Lead for USDA-ARS’ Zoonotic and Emerging Disease Research Unit at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a disease caused by a tick-borne virus. Endemic to Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries, the CCHF virus causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with fatality rates approaching 40 percent. A wide range of wild and domestic animals such as cattle, sheep and goats are hosts to the virus. Animals become infected by the bite of infected ticks and the virus remains in their bloodstream for about one week after infection, allowing the tick-animal-tick infection cycle to continue when another tick bites. The CCHF virus is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter.

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“Most of our work has been human based, so understanding how to apply those methods to animal research has been an interesting challenge for our team,” explained Nicole Hoff, MPH, PhD, Country Director and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “Danae worked with the local team to collect additional data in a more systematic and structured fashion. Sometimes when planning studies, processes that seem good on paper do not work and need revision. This has been a great collaboration and is really improving the capacity locally in the DRC.” 

Because French is the official language in the DRC, Danae encountered a few challenges along the way, though she observed that people were very welcoming and helpful despite any language barrier. She was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to adapt to a routine, and enjoyed spending time with the strong expat community and exploring Kinshasa. She even earned a special memento of her travels: a medal for finishing a 10k race, which also allowed her the opportunity to see Kinshasa by foot.

 This summer marked the second year that Veterinary Scholars had the opportunity to work directly with scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS), researching diseases that could affect livestock and public health and advancing sustainable approaches for agriculture and food production. Under this collaboration between the USDA and Boehringer Ingelheim, 13 students spent this summer working with an ARS scientist on a research project. Boehringer Ingelheim and USDA’s NBAF Workforce Development Funds are covering all costs for the students, including a monthly stipend and travel costs, as well as the opportunity to present their research at the annual Veterinary Scholars Symposium in August.

“As veterinarians, from day one we are trained to look at things from multiple perspectives. The treatment strategies we develop often encompass treatment of the animal itself, changing the animal’s environment to improve outcomes and communicating clearly and effectively with the animal’s human caretakers to implement these changes/therapies. When conducting research, we apply a similar multipronged strategy. We develop solutions to control diseases through the pathogen, the vector, the host, the environment and the people impacted by the disease. This special opportunity to conduct fieldwork in Africa is intended to provide these students with firsthand experience within each of these dimensions,” shared Dr. Roxann Motroni, DVM, PhD, USDA Agricultural Research Service national program leader for animal health, who leads USDA’s collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim and the Veterinary Scholars Program.    

While Danae and Nicole were the first students to experience research fieldwork in Africa as part of the Boehringer Ingelheim- and USDA-sponsored Veterinary Scholars Program, Dr. Motroni and her colleagues hope provide similar opportunities in future summers, to encourage students to consider research careers and continue to showcase and advance the work that the USDA conducts on a global scale to monitor and protect animals and humans from zoonotic, transboundary diseases.

From Danae's Photo Album:

 

 

 

 

From Nicole's Photo Album:

 

 

 

Photos courtesy Nicole Perry and Danae Witte