Objective The disease burden of group A streptococcal infections worldwide is extremely high. More than 600 million persons, mostly children, suffer from streptococcal pharyngitis each year. There are 600 thousand cases of invasive disease. More serious are the sequelae of these infections in the form of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. About 15 million children are suffering from rheumatic heart disease, out of these, 6 million in India alone. Streptococcal diseases can be considered as one of the most important groups of neglected communicable diseases in India. There are many reasons for the inability to control GAS diseases in India. Besides poverty and living conditions, inadequate treatment and non-compliance with penicillin secondary prophylaxis after onset of rheumatic fever have all contributed to the high disease burden. The best perspective for controlling this disease is to develop a fast diagnostic test for rheumatogenic streptococci and to develop a region-specific vaccine against group A streptococci.Prerequisite for diagnostic and vaccine development is in-depth understanding of streptococcal diseases in Indian scenario. Data on the epidemiology of all GAS diseases, the characterization of the circulating strains in different regions of India, determination of genetic predisposition markers in different ethnic populations of India and immunological data to identify region-specific vaccine candidates are urgently needed. The major objective of this proposal is to pull together such information in a comprehensive way which will then form the basis of a novel diagnostic test for rheumatogenic streptococci and for the identification of candidates to develop a region-specific vaccine, using state-of-the-art technologies already established in Europe. This proposal is the first comprehensive approach to understand streptococcal diseases and would contribute towards solving a major health problem in India. Fields of science medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologymedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccinesmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsantibiotics Programme(s) FP6-INCO - Specific measures in support of international cooperation: Specific activities covering wider field of research under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006. Topic(s) INCO-2004-A1.3 - Knowledge and technologies to improve control of neglected communicable diseases Call for proposal FP6-2004-INCO-DEV-3 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme STREP - Specific Targeted Research Project Coordinator HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUER INFEKTIONSFORSCHUNG GMBH EU contribution No data Address Inhoffenstrasse 7 N/A BRAUNSCHWEIG Germany See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (5) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all POST GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH India EU contribution No data Address Sector 12 N/A CHANDIGARH See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE VELLORE India EU contribution No data Address Ida Scudder Road N/A VELLORE See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET Sweden EU contribution No data Address Nobels väg 5 N/A STOCKHOLM See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES India EU contribution No data Address Ansari Nagar N/A NEW DELHI See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address College Gate, North Street ST ANDREWS See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
