Table 4.
Top 10 specific localized accomplishments, 2009:
| 1. Of three influenza reference strains provided to WHO (A/California/7/2009, A/California/4/2009 and A/Texas/5/2009) by NHRC and USAFSAM, the A/California/7/2009 was selected as the seed strain. |
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| 2. Two biosafety-level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories were commissioned in 2009 at NHRC in San Diego, Calif., and AFRIMS in Bangkok, Thailand; and two BSL-2 laboratories were commissioned, one at the University of Buea, Cameroon, and one on the campus of the Cameroonian Army installation in Yaoundé, Cameroon, under supervision of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative. |
| 3. NAMRU-3 partners reported the first definitive evidence of human cutaneous leishmaniasis from Leishmania major infections in Ghana. |
| 4. AFRIMS published the first report of clinically significant Plasmodium falciparum malaria resistance to the potent artemisinin antimalarial drug class, spurring WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and host national malaria control officials to institute aggressive measures to contain and eliminate artemisinin-resistant malaria in Southeast Asia. |
| 5. The first documented cases of Venezuelan equine encephalitis, brucellosis, dengue and Q fever in Ecuador were reported by NMRCD-Lima, and the first laboratory-confirmed cases of leptospirosis in the border areas of Thailand and Myanmar were reported by AFRIMS. |
| 6. AFRIMS provided timely outbreak response services to the Nepali National Public Health laboratory, ultimately characterizing (by pulse-field gel electrophoresis) nearly 6,000 cases of multidrug-resistant typhoid fever originating from a single point source, and uniformly quinolone-resistant. |
| 7. NAMRU-3 worked closely with WHO to conduct novel A/H1N1 laboratory diagnostic training for 73 participants representing 32 different countries in a strategic and timely two-week period in May 2009. |
| 8. NEPMU-2, NAMRU-3, and AFHSC collaboratively supported CENTCOM efforts in establishing in-theatre novel A/H1N1 testing and isolation of servicemembers deployed or deploying to sites around the world. |
| 9. The WRAIR/USAMRU-K Malaria Diagnostics and Control Center of Excellence, established in 2003, having trained more than 600 malaria microscopists, established new malaria diagnostics training capabilities in Nigeria and Tanzania, leading to a visit by the president of Tanzania to WRAIR to establish new collaborations between the U.S. Army and Tanzania. |
| 10. NMRCD, as part of its expansive febrile-disease surveillance network in the Amazon basin, published the first comprehensive study of the etiologies of undifferentiated febrile illness in Ecuador, documenting the first laboratory-confirmed cases of Venezualan equine encephalitis, brucellosis, dengue and Q fever in Ecuador. |
WHO: World Health Organization; NHRC: Naval Health Research Center; USAFSAM: U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine; AFRIMS: Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences; NAMRU-3: Naval Medical Research Unit Number 3; NMRCD: Naval Medical Research Center Detachment; NEPMU-2: Navy Environmental Preventive Medical Unit Number 2; AFHSC: Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center; CENTCOM: U.S. Central Command; WRAIR: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research; USAMRU-K: U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya