Dr. Jen Downs Wins DOM Investigator Award

Dr. Jen Downs with some of the women who participated in her study.

On May 24, 2011 Dr. Jennifer Downs won first prize in the Department of Medicine's 20th Annual Investigator Award Event. Dr. Downs, a recent graduate of the Weill Cornell Master's program in clinical epidemiology and health services research, presented her study on female urogenital schistosomiasis and HIV in Tanzania.

Schistosoma haematobium is a parasite that can damage the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts, leading to deaths from kidney or liver failure and to long-term suffering related to urinary, intestinal, and gynecologic symptoms. It is acquired by contact with infested fresh water and affects approximately 207 million people worldwide. It has been declared "a major public health problem" by the World Health Organization. 1

Approximately 45 million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africe are infected with schistosomiasis.2 Given the considerable overlap in schistosomiasis and HIV endemicity in sub-Saharan Africa, there is emerging evidence that schistosomiasis may increase the risk of HIV infection in women by causing inflammation in the genital tract. Dr. Downs carried out a cross-sectional study with 354 women in the Mwanza region of Tanzania working in partnership with the Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research, and found that schistosomiasis infection is significantly associated with HIV infection. She recommends that oral praziquantel, a nontoxic, single-dose treatment that now costs approximately $0.32 USD, be made more accessible to women. Dr. Downs' study was published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (March 2011).

References:

1. World Health Organization. Weekly Epidemiological Record 2006; 81:145-64

2. WHO Working Group on Urogenital Schistosomiasis and HIV Infection. Accessed at: http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/integrated_media_urogenital_schist...