Professor Cameron Simmons
Dengue is one of the most important infectious disease public health challenges in Viet Nam. On September 19/20th the OUCRU and HTD jointly hosted a "Dengue Therapeutics Workshop". With local and international delegates, from industry, academia and research funding bodies, the meeting discussed the latest results from therapeutic clinical trials performed at the HTD in dengue patients and provided non-clinical experts with a working knowledge of issues in diagnosis and management of patients with dengue. Doctors from the HTD played a vital role in this workshop by sharing their knowledge and expertise in dengue clinical research. An important outcome of the meeting was the general agreement to assemble a panel of "standard" molecules for use and calibration of in vitro assays of anti-dengue virus activity . This initiative should serve to accelerate only the "best" molecules into expensive pre-clinical and clinical development pathways. It's hoped that another workshop will be convened in 2 years time to provide further updates in this field.
Griffith Pugh was an eccentric Welsh physiologist who was instrumental in the successful 1953 Everest climb by Ed Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. He was so absent minded that he was wearing pajamas when John Hunt’s team was formally presented to King Tribhuvan after their Everest climb. Regarding his eccentricity a well known incident on the 1953 expedition has to do with a heavy crate of Pugh’s “physiological equipment”. The Sherpas carefully brought the crate up the Khumbu’s treacherous Icefall only to find out after opening the crate that it contained bottle after bottle of mango chutney!! Often he would forget where he parked his car in London and report to the police that the car was stolen, following which the police would eventually recover it. 
The award is recognition of the outstanding work of Dr Hoa and her team who have spent the last two years studying the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis, an important animal diseases and the major cause of acute bacterial meningitis in adult patients throughout Viet Nam and South East Asia. In collaboration with the Sub Departments of Animal Health Services in the southern provinces of Viet Nam, Dr Hoa has recently extended her research to local communities in Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Thai Binh, Soc Trang and Regional Animal Health Office VI. The major aim of this research is to investigate the prevalence of S. suis carriage and infection in pigs and link this with on-going studies in humans.
Congratulations also to Dr Nguyen Thi Hue who has just received ‘The Lecturer of the Year Award 2010 Ho Chi Minh City’. Dr Hue completed her PhD with the OUCRU and WT MOP in 2008. Following her PhD (Host genetics of Malaria in Viet Nam supervisor Dr Sarah Dunstan) Dr Hue was appointed as a Lecturer at the School of Biotechnology of the International University, HCMC. She has been subsequently been leading the teaching courses in Molecular Cell Biology, Molecular Biotechnology, Molecular Diagnostics and Genetics. In December 2010 Dr Hue was honoured with the award of The Lecturer of the Year Award 2010 Ho Chi Minh City’.
A workshop to address infectious diseases at the animal-human interface was held from January 20th to 22nd, at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City. The workshop was sponsored by the British High Commission in Singapore, the UK-South East Asia Partners in Science, the Viet Nam Department of Animal Health, and the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme Oxford University Clinical Research Unit.
The workshop addressed issues relating to vaccine development and agricultural trade, and provided a forum for discussions regarding research priorities of both the animal health and human health sectors. On the final day, during a round-table meeting, the experts identified several priority areas for development of future international collaborations: HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza); FMD (Foot and Mouth Disease); PRRS (Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome); and Rabies. There were 95 participants from agricultural universities, National and Regional and Sub-departments of Animal Health, Biotech companies, and research institutes taking part in this workshop.