USAMRU-K is headquartered in Nairobi, on the KEMRI campus. The DoD PEPFAR program for the Kenya Defense Forces and Military to Military Medical Program conducts operations from this location along with the DoD-GEIS program. USAMRU-K operates two field stations located in Kisumu and Kericho, Kenya, and each has well-established clinical research centers, with a high prevalence of HIV and malaria in the surrounding communities. “We are able to do very powerful studies with a lower number of subjects due to the high infection rates. The study sites are the most important aspects of our work, being right in the middle of some of the highest incidence rates in the world for both HIV and malaria,” said Col. Tom Logan, a Ph.D. entomologist in the Medical Service Corps who commands the unit.
“Each of our field stations has its own director and staff. For example, Kericho has 120 personnel, is collocated with a Kenyan district hospital, and has Professor Samuel Sinei and Dr. Fred Sawe as director and senior deputy director, respectively. This facility is part of the global Military HIV Research Program network that is an internationally recognized research leader. This site has nearly 20 active protocols underway, including an early phase HIV vaccine trial.”
“Each of our field stations has its own director and staff. For example, Kericho has 120 personnel, is collocated with a Kenyan district hospital, and has Professor Samuel Sinei and Dr. Fred Sawe as director and senior deputy director, respectively. This facility is part of the global Military HIV Research Program network that is an internationally recognized research leader. This site has nearly 20 active protocols underway, including an early phase HIV vaccine trial. In addition, the Henry Jackson Foundation-Medical Research International agency provides crucial research support activities and is a key part of this unit’s success. The Kericho Field Station is also a major contributor to the successful implementation of the PEPFAR program in Kenya. This site executes and oversees PEPFAR programs with a budget of over $21 million USD in the lower South Rift Valley with a base population of over 10 million people. The program is comprised of 11 primary treatment centers, 88 satellite rural health centers, 353 HIV testing and counseling centers, and 410 prevention of mother-to-child transmission [PMTCT] of HIV centers.
“Kombewa, the site of another clinical research center, sits about 40 kilometers outside Kisumu along with a Kenyan district hospital. Closer, at about 20 kilometers from the city are two other labs, one for malaria drug-resistance testing and another for entomology, collocated on the KEMRI-CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Center for Global Public Health Research campus at Kisian. In Kisumu City we have a Malaria Diagnostics Center and our Basic Sciences Lab/Administration Center next to the Obama Children’s Hospital.”
Check-up prior to malaria vaccination in Kisumu-Kombewa, Kenya, as part of a joint GSK/PATH-MVI/KEMRI/WRAIR RTS,S Phase III trial. Darby Communications photo by John-Michael Maas
The unit, through the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance Program, conducts disease surveillance and associated research activities in Kenya, Cameroon, Uganda, and Tanzania. “These are interesting countries for conducting surveillance for and researching infectious diseases, whether in wildlife or humans,” Logan said. “Samples are brought to our labs to help us stay aware of what is there in terms of infectious diseases, to stay ahead of any outbreaks, and report analyses of those up to the Ministry of Health, DoD-GEIS, U.S. CDC, and to our own headquarters at WRAIR so we can control outbreaks before they spread.
“Right now, we’re heavily engaged in a Phase III malaria vaccine trial, with more than 1,700 infants and toddlers enrolled at our center in Kombewa. This GlaxoSmithKline-led protocol, sponsored by PATH-MVI, is a three-year study being conducted at 11 sites in seven countries. The study we’re involved with now on the malaria vaccine trial is the largest study we’ve ever done at USAMRU-K and, through successful vaccine development, may possibly protect both military and civilian populations from this deadly disease.
“We also have a number of protocols in place dealing with malaria drug diagnostics, malaria drug resistance testing, new therapeutics, combinations of therapeutics, and dose-ranging studies,” Logan said.
“Right now, we’re heavily engaged in a Phase III malaria vaccine trial, with more than 1,700 infants and toddlers enrolled at our center in Kombewa. This GlaxoSmithKline-led protocol, sponsored by PATH-MVI, is a three-year study being conducted at 11 sites in seven countries. The study we’re involved with now on the malaria vaccine trial is the largest study we’ve ever done at USAMRU-K and, through successful vaccine development, may possibly protect both military and civilian populations from this deadly disease.
“We also have protocols under way conducting surveillance at the patient level for possible malaria drug treatment resistance.