Name
Assoc. Prof. Abhilasha Karkey, DPhil.
–
Position
Vice Director – OUCRU Nepal.
–
About
Dr Abhilasha Karkey, an Associate Professor of Oxford University, is a medical microbiologist involved in clinical research at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Nepal. The research unit is embedded within the Patan Academy of Health Sciences and based in Patan Hospital, Kathmandu. She has a DPhil from the University of Oxford and an MSc in Medical Microbiology from the University of Liverpool. Her research primarily focuses on the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance in hospital and community settings, particularly among Gram-negative pathogens: Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter spp. Abhilasha has over a decade of experience working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) often in very difficult conflict areas. She utilizes her expertise and experience in helping to build a strong and critical scientific community and establish a scientific research culture in Nepal.
Abhilasha is currently an OAK Scientific Leadership Fellow, an Aspen New Voices and Alan J. Magill Fellow.
Publications
1Basnyat B, Karkey A. 2019. Tackling typhoid fever in South Asia: lessons from Vietnam. The Lancet Global-Health. Oct 2019. Volume 7(10): e 1317-e1318. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30320-1
Karkey, A. & Green, J. 2018. Speaking for others: ethical and political dilemmas of research in global helath. Critical Public Health. 28:5, 495-497. DOI:10.1080/09581596.2018.1515294
Karkey, A., Thwaites, G., Baker, S. 2018 Jan. The evolution of antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella Typhi. Current Opinions on Gastroenterology. 34(1):25-30. doi: 10.1097/MOG.0000000000000406.
Karkey A, Joshi N, Chalise S, Joshi S, Shrestha S, To NTN, Dongol S, Basnyat B, Baker S, Boinett C.J. 2018. Outbreaks of Serratia marcescens and Serratia rubidaea bacteremia in a central Kathmandu hospital following the 2015 earthquakes. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2018 Oct 1;112(10):467-472. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/try077.
Karkey, A., Jombart, T., Walker, A.W., Thompson, C.N., Torres, A., Dongol, S., Tran Vu Thieu, N., Pham Thanh, D., Tran Thi Ngoc, D., Voong Vinh, P., Singer, A.C., Parkhill, J., Thwaites, G., Basnyat, B., Ferguson, N., Baker, S. The ecological dynamics of fecal contamination and Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi in municipal Kathmandu drinking water. 2016. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Jan 6, 10(1): e0004346. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004346. eCollection 2016 Jan
[1]Chung The H, Karkey A, Pham Thanh D, Boinett CJ, Cain AK, Ellington M, Baker KS, Dongol S, Thompson C, Harris SR, Jombart T, Le Thi Phuong T, Tran Do Hoang N, Ha Thanh T, Shretha S, Joshi S, Basnyat B, Thwaites G, Thomson NR, Rabaa MA, Baker S. 2015. A high-resolution gnomic analysis of multidrug resistant hospital outbreaks of Klebsiella pneumoniae. 2015. EMBO Molecular Medicine. 7(3):227-39. doi: 10.15252/emmm.201404767.
Karkey A, Thompson CN, Thieu NTV, Dongol S, Phuong TLT, Vinh PV, Arjyal A, Martin LB, Rondini S, Farrar JJ, Dolecek C, Basnyat B, Baker S. 2013. Differential epidemiology of Salmonella Typhi and Paratyphi A in Kathmandu, Nepal: A matched case control investigation in a highly endemic enteric fever setting. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 7(8): e2391. Doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.002391
Karkey, A., Arjyal, A., Anders, K. L., Boni, M. F., Dongol, S., Koirala, S., My, P. V. T., Nga, T. V. T., Clements, A. C. A., Holt, K. E., Duy, P. T., Day, J. N., Campbell, J. I., Dougan, G., Dolecek, C., Farrar, J., Basnyat, B. & Baker, S. 2010. The Burden and Characteristics of Enteric Fever at a Healthcare Facility in a Densely Populated Area of Kathmandu. PLoS ONE, 5, e13988.
Karkey, A., Aryjal, A., Basnyat, B. & Baker, S. 2008. Kathmandu, Nepal; Still an Enteric Fever Capital of the World. J Infect Dev Ctries, 2, 461 – 465.
Zellweger, R.M., Basnyat, B., Shrestha, P., Prajapati, K.G., Dongol, S., Sharma, P.K., Koirala, S., Darton, T.C., Dolecek, C., Thompson, C.N., Thwaites, G.E., Baker, S.G. and Karkey, A. 2017. A 23-year retrospective investigation of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi isolated in a tertiary Kathmandu hospital. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Zellweger RM, Basnyat B, Shrestha P, Prajapati KG, Dongol S, Sharma PK, Koirala S, Darton TC, Boinett C, Thompson CN, Thwaites GE, Baker S, Karkey A. Changing antimicrobial resistance trends in Kathmandu, Nepal: A 23-years retrospective analysis of bacteraemia. Front Med (Lausanne). 2018 Sep 19;5:262. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00262. eCollection 2018.
Wyres KL, Nguyen TNT, Lam MMC, Judd LM, van Vinh Chau N, Dance DAB, Ip M, Karkey A, Ling CL, Miliya T, Newton PN, Lan NPH, Sengduangphachanh A, Turner P, Veeraraghavan B, Vinh PV, Vongsouvath M, Thomson NR, Baker S, Holt KE. Genomic surveillance for hypervirulence and multi-drug resistance in invasive Klebsiella pneumoniae from South and Southeast Asia. Genome Med. 2020 Jan 16;12(1). doi: 10.1186/s13073-019-0706-y.
Shakya M, Colin-Jones R, Theiss-Nyland K, Voysey M, Pant D, Smith N, Liu X, Tonks S, Mazur O, Farooq YG, Clarke J, Hill J, Adhikari A, Dongol S, Karkey A, Bajracharya B, Kelly S, Gurung M, Baker S, Neuzil KM, Shrestha S, Basnyat B, Pollard AJ; TyVAC Nepal Study Team. Phase 3 efficacy analysis of a typhoid conjugate vaccine trial in Nepal. N Engl J Med. 2019 Dec 5;381(23):2209-2218. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1905047.
Blohmke CJ, Muller J, Gibani MM, Dobinson H, Shrestha S, Perinparajah S, Jin C, Hughes H, Blackwell L, Dongol S, Karkey A, Schreiber F, Pickard D, Basnyat B, Dougan G, Baker S, Pollard AJ, Darton TC. Diagnostic host gene signature for distinguishing enteric fever from other febrile diseases. EMBO Mol Med. 2019 Aug 30:e10431. Doi: 10.15252/emmm.201910431. PMID: 31468702
Colin-Jones R, Shakya M, Voysey M, Theiss-Nyland K, Smith N, Pant D, Liu X, Tonks S, Mazur O, Farooq YG, Kelly S, Adhikari A, Dongol S, Karkey A, Shrestha S, Basnyat B, Pollard AJ. Logistics of implementing a large scale typhoid vaccine trial in Kathmandu, Nepal. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Mar 7;68(Supplement_2):S138-S145. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy1125.
[1] Equal contribution as first author