Dengue research in Vietnam

Dengue is a global health concern exacerbated by urbanisation and climate change. OUCRU research themes include improving patient monitoring with wearable devices and clinical decision support systems, conducting clinical trials for therapeutics, assessing climate change's impact, and studying immune responses in high-risk groups. Our goal is to enhance early prediction and treatment strategies to improve patient care and health system efficiency.

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Sophie is the Dengue Research Group lead at OUCRU-Vietnam, appointed in 2018. She’s a Physician in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine and holds an honorary Consultant appointment at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust in the UK. She holds a PhD from Imperial College London and an MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dengue continues to cause a major public health burden in Vietnam and globally. While most clinical cases resolve spontaneously, a proportion will develop severe manifestations, including bleeding, organ impairment, and capillary leakage sometimes leading to cardiovascular collapse. As yet, no antiviral agents or adjunctive therapies have been found to alter disease outcome in dengue.

The focus of the group is on translational clinical research to address some of the major questions and unmet needs in the dengue field, with the overall aim of impacting on dengue management and improving clinical outcomes.

Some key research areas include:

• Pathogenesis studies: Investigating the mechanism underlying the capillary leak in severe dengue.
• Cardiovascular monitoring and fluid management trials.
• Immunology studies: Investigating mechanisms of immunopathology in severe dengue, through collaborations with Oxford University and DUKE-NUS, Singapore.
• Innovations: Utilizing state-of-the art technology and smart devices for risk prediction. Through collaborations with Imperial College London we are setting up a platform for testing innovative technologies for improving dengue diagnostics and patient management.
• Clinical trials: of novel host-directed therapeutics, focusing on patients at higher risk of developing severe disease.
• Dengue virus transmission dynamics: through Monash University, Australia.