Health experts acquire gene sequencing skills

ADDIS ABABA — Standing shoulder to shoulder in a gleaming laboratory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, African and Chinese health experts pored over advanced equipment as they took part in a training session on laboratory detection and genome sequencing.

The three-week program, delivered mainly by Chinese health experts at the Chinese-built Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, is part of a broader China-Africa cooperation to advance public health capacity across the continent.

For the participants, the handson training has been highly interactive and relevant to their daily work, such as responding to disease outbreaks.

Kone K. Marcel, a microbiologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Mali, said the training has given him a "great opportunity" to learn Chinese DNA sequencing technology capable of determining an organism's full genomic sequence.

"I discovered that they (the Chinese) have great technologies like the DNA nanoball sequencing and also the cyclone sequencing machine, and those are some of the technologies that will really help us in Africa to enhance DNA sequencing," Marcel said.

Although the laboratory machines were new to him, Marcel said the automated Chinese sequencing technology would allow African laboratories to detect pathogens far more quickly and reduce many manual steps, enabling near real-time analysis within minutes.

Precious Simushi, a biomedical scientist at the Zambia National Public Health Institute, said the training offered crucial insights into biosafety and Chinese surveillance systems. She was particularly drawn to a session on phages, which can be used to treat bacterial infections that no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines.

"In an era where there is an increase in antimicrobial resistance, phage therapy has come in very handy. We have been taught how to use other means than the usual antibiotics to handle these antimicrobial resistances through phage therapy," Simushi said.

Faster response

She said automated extraction technology introduced by Chinese experts would allow African health experts to isolate bacteriophages in less than 20 minutes, allowing a much faster response during outbreaks.

"Having this technology in hand will mean that we'll be able to detect and respond quickly and be able to contain any outbreak that comes our way," said Simushi.

Highlighting the rising number of drug-resistant diseases in Africa, Idrissa Laybohr Kamara, a doctor from Sierra Leone, said the new phage therapy introduced by Chinese experts would significantly help treat those diseases, including tuberculosis, which are becoming increasingly widespread in Africa.

"In fact, this is the first time I've heard of phage therapy, which is a new technology and a treatment. It is very important that it can solve the problem of antibiotic resistance in Africa," said Kamara.

"We have brought several advanced technologies, including DNA sequencing and antibiotic treatment that will help African health professionals deal with drug-resistant disease," said Liu Wenfeng, a Chinese trainer and researcher at BGI Group.

The workshop, which concluded on Sunday, has drawn 30 participants from 16 African countries, focusing on core laboratory skills, accurate pathogen detection, drug-resistance monitoring and analysis, and standardized laboratory quality management.

Xinhua