How can ICGEB CRP Grants and Short-term Fellowships make a long-lasting impact in a Member State with geopolitical difficulties? Dr. Bamidelesoji (Soji) Oderinde from the WHO Polio reference Laboratory in Maiduguri, Nigeria visited the Molecular Virology lab for three months as Short-term fellow.
Senior lecturer at the local University in Maiduguri, Dr. Oderinde is collaborating with Prof. Marycelin Baba, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Maiduguri, to expand the activities of the laboratory towards arboviral infections that are not, at present, diagnosed. In fact, feverish patients are often given antimalarial or antibiotics without proper testing resulting in ineffective treatments and wasted resources.
Through the collaboration with Alessandro Marcello and the Molecular Virology lab in Trieste, testing for arboviruses has been set up, and thanks to a CRP Grant the Nigerian team was able to acquire necessary instrumentation and diagnostic kits, including some serology tests produced at ICGEB.
This is a great success story of ICGEB science showing the progression from contact, to collaboration, to concrete results.
A. Marcello and B. Oderinde discuss their work to eradicate Polio and diagnose other viral infections in North-east Nigeria Tea Carletti, Molecular Virology lab, with Marycelin Baba, collaborates on the project of diagnosis of Flaviviruses in North-east Nigeria, thanks to a CRP grant.
