Helping people recover from mosquito-borne viral diseases
Express your interest to be a consumer partner
involvement@qimrb.edu.auHave you ever had a viral infection that came from a mosquito-bite?
We are looking for consumers with lived experience of mosquito-borne viral infections to become ongoing partners with the Emerging Viral Diseases Laboratory.
A/Prof Daniel Rawle and his team want to understand why some people recover fully from mosquito-borne viral diseases while others are left with serious or long-term illness and use that knowledge to find better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent these diseases.
If you become a consumer partner, what would be involved?
- You may attend 1-2 meetings each year to learn about a research project and give your feedback.
- The lab will keep you informed of project progress, seek further input from time to time, and potentially ask for your help (if you wish) to communicate any research findings to the community.
- For each activity we will offer you compensation for your time, following the QIMR Berghofer remuneration guidelines.
What we’re working on:
Japanese encephalitis virus, spread by mosquitoes, can cause a dangerous inflammation of the brain, and it has now reached Australia. There is no specific treatment. Most research has looked at what makes brain inflammation worse. We are asking what helps it calm down and heal. In laboratory studies, we found a natural protein called ApoE that acts like a switch, helping the immune system move from fighting infection to repairing damage. We are now exploring whether this switch can be supported with new treatments.
For many people, joint pain and swelling from these mosquito-borne viruses continues for months or even years. We are investigating whether virus lingering in the body keeps the immune system switched on, and testing new ways to help the body clear it, so that treatment addresses the cause rather than just the symptoms
Many people with brain infections never find out what made them sick. We are using technology that reads all the genetic material in a sample to identify viruses and other germs without needing to know what to look for in advance. We hope it will lead to faster, more accurate answers for patients and their doctors.
Are you interested in this opportunity?
Send an email expressing your interest to Dr Nancy Cloake, Consumer and Community Involvement Lead