Scopus Magazine 2012_2013

By Sandy Cash
Partners
University’s Faculty of Medicine, depends on preventing
in Progress
Prof. Alon Warburg
assists his colleague
Prof. Asrat Hailu
of Addis Ababa
University as he takes
blood samples from
local children.
Inset: Illuminated
bottles hang from trees
to catch sand flies
Four Hebrew University scholars
join forces with overseas colleagues,
conduct research in Africa and share
knowledge that will improve health
and nutrition for the world
No-fly Zones
While overseas US Army bases may seem impenetrable, the
walls cannot withstand one tiny enemy: the sand fly that
transmits the deadly disease visceral leishmaniasis. Affecting
hundreds of thousands of people every year, leishmaniasis
is a leading cause of death in Africa. Stopping it, says Prof.
Alon Warburg of the Institute for Medical Research Israel-
Canada (IMRIC) and the Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the
Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in the Hebrew
disease-carrying sand flies from reaching their human targets.
“Sand flies are difficult to control because they can
develop in many different habitats,” says Warburg. “We
investigate those habitats in which sand flies breed most
productively and pose the greatest threat. We also correlate
sand fly population dynamics with human behavior in
affected areas. By examining how sand flies and humans
interact, we can create better strategies for lowering the
incidence of infection.”
The best way to combat leishmaniasis is also the simplest,
says Warburg. “Sand flies fly low and close to the ground
to avoid the winds. We place an insecticide-treated mesh
barrier along the perimeter fence of inhabited compounds.
When the flies encounter the barrier, they absorb a lethal
dose, significantly reducing the number of flies that come in
contact with humans.”
Warburg’s work, funded in part by the US Army, has the
potential to protect the health of soldiers stationed in desert
compounds. But this line of research also has captured
civilian interest.
“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been a
tremendous supporter,” Warburg says, referring to a
$5 million grant he received in 2009 to conduct visceral
leishmaniasis research in Ethiopia. “Although in the past
the Foundation focused on malaria, I approached them about
leishmaniasis, a problem especially dangerous for those
with AIDS.” While drug treatments are available, curing
leishmaniasis depends on the body’s immune system which,
in HIV-infected individuals, is dangerously compromised.
Warburg is conducting his research with Kuvin Center and
IMRIC colleague Prof. Charles Jaffe, Prof. Gad Baneth
of the Hebrew
University’s Koret School
of Veterinary Medicine
and scientific partners
from the Czech Republic
and Ethiopia.
“Our aim is to
understand how the
parasite that causes the
8 2012/2013