Pediatric Infectious Diseases
The Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases conducts research on a wide range of infectious diseases with special attention on severe pediatric infectious diseases including pneumonia, diarrhea, and dengue which are the major causes of under 5 mortality. We also investigate congenital infections and its impact on child development. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 （SARS-CoV-2） outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China in December 2019 which then spread globally and became pandemic in March 2020. Thus, we expanded our research activities to COVID-19. We have setup a field research laboratory and a population cohort study site in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Members
- Professor
- Laymyint Yoshida
- Associate Professor
- Michiko Toizumi
- Assistant Professor
- Mohammad Shah
- Assistant Professor
- Kohen Erik Johannes
- Assistant Professor
- Hirono Otomaru
- Visiting Professor
- Masahiro Hashizume
- Research Fellow
- Yutaro Yamagata
- Research Fellow
- Soichiro Kawada
- Assistant
- Setsuko Hirakura
- Assistant
- Nozomi Oka
- Assistant
- Ikumi Ando
- Graduate Student
- Saki Tanaka
- Graduate Student
- Noriko Kitamura
- Graduate Student
- Wambugu Peris Wanjiru
Activities
- Cohort studies on Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Vietnam: We receive funding from the Japan Initiative for Global Research Network on Infectious Diseases (JGRID), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) to conduct a large population based cohort study on Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Nha Trang, central Vietnam since 2006.
- Pediatric ARI surveillance: A population based hospitalized Pediatric ARI surveillance at Khanh Hoa General Hospital, Nha-Trang, Vietnam was established to determine incidence, etiology and risk factors for pediatric ARI/pneumonia since 2007. We also investigate the emergence of new viruses and its molecular and clinical importance. In addition, we also investigate the impact or potential of various vaccine introduction on pneumonia and dengue in a population level.
- Birth cohort study: We have conducted a birth cohort study on 2000 new born babies in Nha Trang, Vietnam since 2009. This study is to study congenital infection and host genetic factors on physical-neurological development of the child and development of severe pediatric infectious diseases. We also set up a new birth cohort study in 2017-2018 to investigate congenital infection including rubella, cytomegalo, and zika virus and the effect on the child development.
- Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) reduced dosing trial: We received a multimillion dollar grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct a PCV reduce dosing trial in Vietnam. We believe that the study outcome will change global PCV vaccination strategy t o improve the availability of PCV and other vaccines in developing countries.
- Dengue intra-family transmission in the community: In collaboration with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, we are conducting a dengue intra-family transmission study in the community in Nha Trang.
- COVID-19 related research: We are currently conducting clinical epidemiological characterization and long-term complication and immunological responses of COVID-19 in Vietnamese population. We are also investigating the vaccine response among medical, non-medical and previous COVID-19 cases in Vietnam and Japan.
- Environmental epidemiology: We are conducting several studies on health impact of climate change and air pollution on the local and global scale.
Recent main research achievement
- Shah et al. Microbiol Spectr 2023;1:e0414022.
- Kitamura et al. Emerging Infect Dis 2023;29(1):70-80.
- Toizumi et al. Vaccine 2022;40(36):5366-5375.
- Qian et al. PLoS Med 2022;19(5):e1004016.
- Wang et al. Lancet 2022;S0140-6736(22)00478-0.