Table 5 Recommendations for overcome gaps of control capacity and diagnostic/drug development reported in this article
From: Research gaps for three main tropical diseases in the People’s Republic of China
Diseases | Research area of gaps | Specific gaps | Recommendation for overcome gaps |
|---|---|---|---|
Malaria | Epidemic control | Need more active surveillance for early detection | More precise prediction by statistical model and geographical information systems (GIS). Set up active surveillance and response system to prevent reestablishment of transmission. |
No appropriate techniques to evaluate elimination | Set up clonal germplasm repository for plasmodium and its vectors. Find specific biomarker to distinguish different geographic strain. | ||
Diagnosis | Need new diagnosis method for asymptomatic patient | Find new candidate biomarkers. Quality sampling for diagnostic kits before large-scale testing in field. | |
Chemotherapy | Need innovative and safer drugs | Accelerate the validation and standardization for candidate drugs. Strengthen international cooperation in new drug development. | |
Schistosomiasis japonica | Epidemic control | Need effective tools for Oncomelania sp. snail control | Develop diagnostic assays for the large-scale screening of specific snails. Use GIS for prediction of snail distribution. Develop new snail interventions. |
Need policy support to protect the execution of control strategy | Coordinate by local government. Give full administration enforcement rights to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. | ||
Diagnosis | Need more sensitive and cheaper diagnostic test for large population sampling. | Find new candidate biomarkers. Focus on innovation of immune complex dissociation procedure to increase the sensitivity of detection. | |
Chemotherapy | Need new drugs in addition to praziquantel. | Accelerate the validation and standardization for candidate drugs. Strengthen international cooperation in new drug development. | |
Echinococcosis | Epidemic control | The execution for control echinococcosis is not satisfying. | Coordinate by local government. Give proper administration enforcement right to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. |
Manpower restrictions in echinococcosis control | Larger personnel force for echinococcosis control. More professional training for echinococcosis control. | ||
Not enough support for hygiene and sanitation in epidemic areas. | Government increase in financial support on hygiene and sanitation improvement in these areas. Strengthen health education on echinococcosis prevention. | ||
Diagnosis | Need more sensitive test for early diagnosis | Undertake a comparative study of all the available antibody detection to form guidelines for large-scale scanning. Find new candidate biomarkers. | |
Chemotherapy | Need more effective drug for short-term treatment | Accelerate the validation and standardization for candidate drugs. Focus to develop new form of benzimidazole to improve its bioavailability. Strengthen international cooperation in new drug development. |