There are about 34 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Papua New Guinea. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
The overall objective of this study is to develop a reliable method to obtain habitual iodine intakes from spot urinary iodine concentration (UIC) and to assess the prevalence of inadequate iodine intake in school-age children and women of reproductive age. We will evaluate different methods to estimate iodine intake from UIC and estimate the prevalence of inadequate and excess iodine intake in UIC studies conducted in populations with low, adequate and high iodine intakes using the the established estimated average requirement (EAR)/Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) cut-point method.
The current principle of yaws eradication (the Morges strategy) is based on single round mass drug administration (MDA) of azithromycin (AZI) called total community treatment (TCT) followed by targeted treatment of active cases every 6 months to detect and treat cases and contacts called total targeted treatment (TTT). Studies done in Papua New Guinea (PNG) show that 1 round of MDA will probably not suffice to stop transmission of infection. It may be preferable to conduct 3 rounds of MDA prior to the switch to TTT because of high coverage requirements to achieve elimination, particularly of latent cases. The investigators plan to determine whether 3 rounds of MDA are more effective for reaching yaws elimination. This research is needed to guide national programmatic implementation and needs to be done as soon as possible to scale up the program in the country. The aim of this proposal is to ascertain the number of rounds of MDA with AZI to be included in an improved strategy towards yaws eradication. The study will be implemented in 38 wards of New Ireland Province (NIP). The investigators will compare two different distribution strategies of MDA: (A) strategy with 3 biannual rounds of MDA and (B) a single mass treatment round of MDA followed by targeted treatment of cases and contacts. The investigators will also monitor the risk of appearance of antimicrobial resistance in Treponema pertenue.
This study will assess the impact of 2-drug (DA) or 3-drug (IDA) regimens on lymphatic filariasis infection parameters in communities. Parameters measured will include: circulating filarial antigenemia (CFA) assessed with the Filariasis Test Strip (FTS), antifilarial antibodies tested with plasma and microfilaremia (assessed by night blood smears and microscopy).
The standard regimen for elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) in PNG is annual administration of two drugs at the same time. The two drugs are called "DEC" (Diethylcarbamazine, 6 mg/kg body weight) and "ALB" (Albendazole 400 mg for all individuals regardless of weight), which are given one time per year for five to seven years with the aim to interrupt transmission that occurs through local mosquito vectors. These drugs kill the larval forms of the parasite in the blood that are necessary for continuing transmission of infection by the mosquito vector. The two drugs were previously thought to have little effect on adult worms, the stage of the parasite which is responsible for production of the larval forms that appear in the blood of infected people. Recent data, however, suggest that DEC and ALB can kill or render adult worms unable to produce the larval forms (sterilization). Therefore, giving these drugs twice per year for three consecutive years may increase the rate of killing or sterilizing of adults worms over regimens that involve administration of the same drugs only one time per year. The overall goal of this research is to compare the anti-parasite activity of DEC plus ALB given one time per year, the current standard for MDA to eliminate LF, to DEC plus ALB given two times per year (at 6-month intervals) in order to reduce the total duration and cost of MDA to eliminate LF in PNG. Adults (18 years and older) and minors (age 5 to 17 years) will be invited to participate in this study. Study participants will be asked to give finger stick blood samples to check LF infection status and stool samples to determine how well the drugs eliminate intestinal worm infections. Sampling will be done by repeated cross-sectional surveys in the same communities, but not necessarily the same persons, one time per year over a 3-year period. As part of the annual treatment infection surveillance the study team will also collect demographic data (place of residence, family relationship, age, use of bed nets), history of swelling of the arms and legs (elephantiasis), scrotal swelling (hydrocele), acute filarial fever accompanied by extremity swelling, and history of prior treatment for LF.
Infection is the most common cause of death in early life, especially for newborns and can be reduced by immunization but insufficient knowledge of how vaccines protect the very young limits their optimal use. To gain insight into how vaccines induce protection of the most vulnerable, this National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-funded Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) study, based at Boston Children's Hospital and conducted by the Expanded Program on Immunization Consortium (EPIC), employs two novel approaches studying newborn responses to hepatitis B vaccine (HBV): (a) systems biology that uses technologies which comprehensively measure global changes in molecules such as transcriptomics (RNA) and proteomics (proteins), as well as cell composition of the blood and (b) use of human newborn blood components, collected prior to immunization, to model vaccine responses in vitro (outside the body). Characterizing vaccine-induced molecular patterns ("signatures") that correspond to vaccine-mediated protection will accelerate development and optimization of vaccines against early life infections of major global health importance.
The DOLF Triple Drug Therapy for Lymphatic Filariasis study will determine the frequency, type and severity of adverse events following triple-drug therapy (IVM+DEC+ALB, IDA) compared to the standard two-drug treatment (DEC+ALB, DA) in infected and uninfected individuals in a community in 5 different countries. The objective is to acquire safety, efficacy, and acceptability data to assess the safety and acceptability of the IDA drug combination.
Mass drug administration with antimalarial treatment is a tool that can potentially reduce or totally eliminate malaria parasite infections from a population. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA/PPQ) given monthly for 3 months to the entire population might be a good candidate for mass drug administration because the long acting PPQ exerts a long post-treatment prophylactic effect against reinfection and relapse. The use of a repeated dose of DHA/PPQ could lead to increased PPQ plasma concentrations and increased cardiotoxicity. However, there is no data on a second course of treatment or on safety of the drug administered in repeated monthly doses. The proposed project is a clinical trial to assess the electrocardiographic safety of monthly DHA/PPQ (for 3 days at a time) for 3 months. The investigators aim to assess the safety of the drug to be used monthly in mass treatment campaigns. Recommendations issued from this study will benefit health authorities on Lihir-Island by setting the stage for a possible subsequent campaign to completely eliminate malaria from the whole island. This study could be a crucial step to inform the feasibility of drug-based strategies for eliminating malaria elsewhere in PNG, other Melanesian countries and throughout the world.
Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia in pregnancy is associated with maternal anaemia, low birth-weight and increased perinatal mortality. Whilst continuous prophylaxis is difficult to implement, intermittent presumptive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) has proved to be practical and effective. In PNG, pregnant women currently receive IPTp using sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, however, this therapy has the potential to be compromised by parasite resistance. The aim of the present trial is to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of azithromycin (AZI) plus piperaquine (PQ) given as IPTp to pregnant Papua New Guinea women. The study will comprise of two sub-studies: (i) A safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic study of AZI-PQ in pregnancy. (ii) A safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy study of AZI-PQ in pregnancy.
This study specifically seeks to provide data on the safety, tolerability and pilot efficacy of short course, high dose primaquine treatment in Papua New Guinean children aged 5-10 years, in a cross-sectional study design. Community screened asymptomatic cases and/or cases of clinically diagnosed malaria admitted to the out-patient units of the health center, will be screened for Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD) and malaria illness by rapid diagnostic test and P. vivax infection confirmed by light microscopy. Following treatment with artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem), G6PD normal children will be enrolled into the study and followed for 2 months. Primaquine treatment will be allocated to study participants in a step-wise design; firstly receiving the current 14 day treatment regimen of 0.5 mg/kg total dose (n=40); secondly, a 7 day treatment regimen receiving a total dose of 1.0 mg/kg/day; then thirdly, receive 1.0 mg/kg twice daily dose (bd) for a total of 3.5 days, should the 7 day treatment prove to be safe and well tolerated. In addition to this dose-escalation study, the pharmacokinetic profiles of single doses of 0.5 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg will be determined using an intensive sampling protocol, in children aged 5-10 years. The pharmacokinetic profiles obtained by this sub-study will be essential for modeling the population pharmacokinetic data obtained from the dose-escalation study. As there is currently no data on the safety, tolerability and efficacy of primaquine in children, the present study will validate previous observation and contribute to the knowledge of primaquine as a treatment for liver stages of Plasmodium vivax infection.
The study will be a single blinded, randomized, controlled open label non-inferiority phase III, trial with two parallel groups, conducted in Ghana and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The ultimate goal is to establish if a 20mg/kg dose of azithromycin is as effective as a 30mg/kg dose in the treatment of yaws. Approximately 600 clinically and serologically diagnosed yaws patients will be included in the study. Patients will be randomized to receive treatment with the two antibiotic regimens as follow: (i) Regimen I (AZT20): Single oral dose of 20 mg/kg azithromycin (ii) Regimen II (AZT30): Single oral dose of 30 mg/kg azithromycin. The follow-up period of patients will be 6 months. Assessments before, during and after the antibiotic treatment will include full medical history, clinical assessment of the lesion and, laboratory investigations. The primary efficacy parameters are healing of the lesion at 4 weeks and a four-fold decline in RPR titre at 6 months after start of treatment.