Category: Tropical Medicine

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s (ASTMH) Annual Meeting, Nov. 9-13 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, drew approximately 4,900 global health professionals from around the world. Investigators from the IDEEL Lab contributed new insights to the global conversation, drawing attention to a defining crossroads in East Africa’s malaria response....

Dr. Scott Commins, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, commented on the death of a 47-year-old man from Alpha-Gal Syndrome in an NBC News story. Dr. Commins studies the tick-bite induced red meat allergy that affects a growing population and describes the biggest risk factors for severe reactions, such as...

CHAPEL HILL, NC — (November 24, 2025) A multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, at UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, with partners at North Carolina State University, Emory University, Accelint’s SoarTech, and a network of international collaborators has received  $2.2 million...

Artemisinin partial resistance, driven by Plasmodium falciparum K13 mutations, threatens malaria control. Zanzibar is vulnerable to the spread of artemisinin partial resistance but lacks molecular surveillance. Sean Connelly, an MD-PhD candidate, led a study with the IDEEL Lab team that sequenced samples in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania, collected from 2022 to...

Jonathan Juliano, MD, MSPH, has been awarded a $3.2 million R01 grant to use deep learning surrogates to predict the spread of antimalarial drug resistance. With co-PI Robert Verity, PhD, MSc at Imperial College London, the research team includes Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, and partner Varun Goel, PhD, at the...

Dr. Ross Boyce challenges learners to see beyond the data, to understand the patient, the family, and the community at the heart of every research question. His latest study in the New England Journal of Medicine has captured the attention of students and colleagues alike, validating a simple intervention for...

Published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, this trial led by Ross Boyce, MD, MSc and colleagues highlights the potential impact of permethrin-treated textiles as a novel tool in the fight against malaria. Malaria remains a major cause of childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for nearly 600,000...

Members of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases have an important role to play in sharing evidence-based research that can educate policymakers and support public health initiatives. Advocating for legislation can improve healthcare systems and public health, as well as advance the field of infectious diseases. Dr. Ross...

Zika virus (ZIKV) caused unprecedented outbreaks in South America and the Caribbean in 2015–2016, leading primarily to a series of abnormalities in neonates termed congenital Zika syndrome. The threat of ZIKV reemergence has seen the development of multiple ZIKV vaccines that are at the preclinical stage or in early-stage clinical...

Fabien Vulu, MD, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) specializing in mosquito vectors of malaria parasites and viruses. He joined the IDEEL Lab at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases to study under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, training in malaria parasite sequencing for the PaluSeq...

Aravinda de Silva, PhD, MPH, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, has designed a new blood test to accurately diagnose dengue and Zika Viruses, to improve surveillance and advance vaccine development. The dengue virus (DENV), which infects several hundred million people worldwide each year, is responsible...

Investigators and trainees in the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases participated in the annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Nov. 13-17 in New Orleans. From molecular surveillance of malaria and new genomic sequencing...

Globally, the World Health Organization reports at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment. Many of those affected live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), but they also live in rural areas of the U.S. and North Carolina. Encouragingly, more than 90% of people with vision impairment have a...

Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, assistant professor of infectious diseases and epidemiologist with the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, led a study published in Lancet Regional Health that examined the rapid emergence of Lyme Disease in N.C., between 2010 and 2020. Dr. Boyce says the results confirm what he has...

Healthcare providers in North Carolina have limited experience diagnosing and managing Lyme disease because few cases occur annually statewide. Researchers have published a case study that demonstrates the need for greater awareness and professional education. The article outlines the prolonged diagnostic course for a patient with locally acquired Lyme disease...

Researchers with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases published a tick-borne disease study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases using samples from soldiers stationed at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. In collaboration with the Gillings School of Global Public Health, Womack Army Medical Center and the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne...

A report published by Lester Gutiérrez, a PhD candidate and IGHID Fellow, provides a new assessment of Giardia lamblia and the pathogenesis of stunting and cognitive growth in children from low- and middle-income countries, published with mentor Luther Bartelt, MD. Giardia is most common during childhood, mainly in low-and-middle income countries. Symptoms...

Post-doctoral fellow Ashenafi Assefa, PhD, and Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases, researchers with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) working in the IDEEL (the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology) Lab assess the pros and cons of a new strategy to simplify malaria...

Researchers with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) through IDEEL (the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab), have detected new strains of malaria-causing parasites in Ethiopia that are both resistant to current treatments and escape detection by common diagnostic tests. Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, IGHID member and...

The NIH has awarded a multi-disciplinary team led by Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, a $4.4 million, five-year (R01) grant to evaluate the effectiveness of a chemoprevention effort designed to prevent malaria outbreaks after flooding, using a combination of interventions. Boyce is a member of the Institute for Global Health and...