Who Center for Tropical Diseases
The World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases is a unique institutional resource. At present, the Center is housed predominately in the Department of Pathology and directed by Dr. David H. Walker, Chairman of Pathology. The purpose of the Center is to further the study of infectious diseases of major public health importance, particularly in developing countries.
The number of people affected by tropical diseases and the resources consumed in combating these diseases are staggering. It is estimated that 1 to 1.5 million Americans may be harboring the HIV virus. This tragedy is dwarfed by the 500 million people in underdeveloped countries who suffer from tropical diseases each year.
UTMB shares, with other humanitarian institutions, an interest in alleviating the intense suffering and loss of human potential that result from tropical diseases. Furthermore, the ease of modern travel and immigration, means that the United States is no longer isolated from the threats posed by these tropical diseases. The common theme which forms the basis for cohesive scientific interactions among members of the Center, study rodent-borne and arthropod-borne viral diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; arena viruses such as Pichinde, a model for Lassa fever; and alphaviruses including the Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus, among others. The vectors that transmit these diseases, viral hepatitis including hepatitis B and C viruses, and retroviruses such as HIV are also studied.
Other subjects that fit the theme of intracellular parasitism include facultative and obligate intracellular bacteria (e.g., many enteric bacteria such as Shigella, Salmonella, and Vibrios, as well as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, chlamydiae and rickettsiae). The Center provides an institutional resource and a stimulating environment for the multidisciplinary study of the diverse causes, molecular methods of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of significant tropical diseases. Researchers and clinicians from many disciplines work together toward understanding, treating and preventing tropical infectious diseases.
The Center’s mission is to educate students, researchers, and clinicians to become experts in tropical diseases. This mission includes training Ph.D. students and physicians to become basic research scientists, develop clinical investigators, and educate visiting scientists and postdoctoral fellows in the use of contemporary basic research approaches. Another aspect of the mission is training physicians in the fields of infectious diseases, anatomic and clinical pathology, pediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology, and preventive medicine as a means to gain experience in approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and immunization.
For more information about the activities of the CTD, please visit http://www.utmb.edu/ctd which is the home page for WHO Center for Tropical Diseases at UTMB.