Welcome to the project page for the ZELS brucellosis in West and central Africa project. The site gives an overview of the project and updates on project activities as well as links to relevant information associated with the project. For any further information about this project or questions regarding the site please contact lcraighead2@rvc.ac.uk.
The project was launched in March 2015 as a collaboration between The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) London, the Interstate School of Veterinary Science and Medicine of Dakar (EISMV), The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) London and The Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed). Over the five year duration of the project a multidisciplinary research and development programme linking appropriately to industry will provide biological, social and institutional answers to the effective control of brucellosis by vaccination.
As one of the most prevalent zoonoses, brucellosis is an important constraint on the livelihoods of poor people acting both directly on human health causing chronic disability and indirectly via decreased livestock productivity. The heaviest burden is currently on vulnerable populations in Sub-Saharan Africa where emergent livestock systems (peri-urban dairy farms) are increasingly required to supply milk to the rapidly growing urban populations. Transmission to humans is mostly by the consumption of contaminated dairy products and contact with infected animals.
To read a full project summary, please click on the following link: Project Summary (English)
This project is supported by a grant awarded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) under the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) programme, a multi-national initiative involving BBSRC, the Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
