Clinical Research Directory

VectorCAM: A Digital Innovation to Advance Entomological Surveillance

Mosquitoes spread diseases such as malaria, but tracking mosquito populations is often slow and depends on a small number of highly trained specialists. VectorCam is a smartphone-based tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help identify mosquitoes from photographs and automatically report surveillance information. In this study, community health workers in Uganda used VectorCam during routine mosquito collection activities, while a comparison group followed standard methods that required mosquito identification by trained specialists using microscopes. The study evaluated how accurately mosquitoes could be identified, how quickly information could be reported, how complete the collected data were, and how easy the system was to use. The goal was to determine whether AI-enabled technology could help communities collect and share mosquito surveillance information more quickly and efficiently, while maintaining data quality under real-world conditions.

Febrile Disease Landscape in Cambodia Via Metagenomic Pathogen Sequencing

Background: Vector-borne diseases are caused by the bite of an infected mosquito, fly, flea, tick, or other blood-feeder. These diseases cause almost 1 million deaths per year. And they are on the rise, particularly in Southeast Asia in particular. Researchers think that these diseases make up about 10 percent of fevers in Cambodia. But many of these illnesses are never diagnosed. Studying these diseases can help find new ways to identify and treat them. Objective: To find pathogens in people who have a fever using metagenomic pathogen sequencing platforms. Eligibility: People aged at least 2 months years with a fever of at least 38 degrees Celsius or those diagnosed with infection by a pathogen of concern who visit the referral hospital in Cambodia. Close contacts of people diagnosed with infection by a pathogen of concern may also be enrolled. Design: Participants will be screened with their medical history. Children will be weighed to make sure they are big enough to give blood samples. Participants will share data about their sex, age, and where they live. They will answer more questions about their heath history. They will answer questions about and any places to which they have recently traveled. They will take a questionnaire. They will have a blood test. If they have respiratory symptoms, they will have a nasal swab. Participants may be contacted within 1-2 weeks (early) and/or within 3 months (late) from their enrollment date to provide an optional follow-up blood samples and nasal swabs.