Imke Schreuder
Imke Schreuder
My name is Imke Schreuder and since 2008 I am doing a PhD on blood borne viruses at the department of virology of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. Before I started my PhD, I studied physiotherapy and worked as a physiotherapist in South Africa, mainly with HIV and tuberculosis patients. Mainly due to that, I decided to do a Master in infectious diseases at the University in Amsterdam.
As an epidemiologist I am currently doing a PhD project on the transmission and risk factors of blood borne viruses in high risk populations. But what are blood borne viruses?
A blood borne virus is a virus that can lead to a blood borne disease, which is one that can be spread by contaminated blood. The most common examples of blood borne diseases are HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, of which you probably have heard in Africa.
Blood borne diseases are usually transmitted directly by blood contact such as sexual contact, mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT), injecting drug use, needle exchange etc. My work focuses mainly on high risk populations. These are populations which are at high risk of acquiring HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C such as injecting drug users, prisoners, migrants from different countries, and MSM.
My PhD is about the epidemiology of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Epidemiology is the study of patterns of health and illness and associated (risk)factors at population level, instead of at patient level. Epidemiology is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps for identifying risk factors for diseases, prevention methods and optimal treatment.
Below you will find some basic information about the epidemiology of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C:
HIV: Worldwide, 33.4 million people are living with HIV, of whom 22.4 million (67%) in the sub-Saharan Africa. In the Netherlands, around 21.500 persons are infected with the virus and approximately 1300 new infections occur each year. The majority of HIV infections in the Netherlands are among men having sex with men (MSM).
Hepatitis B: More than 2000 million people alive today have been infected with this virus at some time in their lives. Of these, about 350 million remain infected chronically and become carriers of this virus. In the Netherlands, 3.2% of the population has antibodies against hepatitis B, however, only 0.2% has an acute active infection with the virus, and is thus contagious. Unprotected sexual contact remains the most important risk factor for acute hepatitis. Migrants from hepatitis B endemic countries such as Asia play also an important role in the transmission of the hepatitis B virus, also in the Netherlands. Hepatitis B is the most contagious disease of these three diseases.
Hepatitis C: More than 170 million people worldwide are positive for antibodies to HCV, with a prevalence of 0.1-0.4% in the Netherlands. Injection drug use is the primary mode of transmission for HCV infection in the developed world and accounts for around 65% of current infections. This group is at high risk for the transmission of HCV because of high proportion of injecting drug use, often with non-sterile equipment, and other risk behaviour such as, unprotected sex, the sharing of needles and syringe attributes, and limited access to health care.
In the developing world, blood transfusion is a very common transmission route for hepatitis C. In the developed world, blood for blood transfusion is screened for many blood-borne diseases since decades.
My work wants to find out the prevalence and transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and C in high risk populations. I also want to know what the risk factors are that might be associated with being infected with these viruses. These studies are done mostly through questionnaires and blood sampling. The questionnaires consist of several questions related to risk factors for the specific disease. Answers to the questions will be related to the test results of the study population. Trough blood sampling we try to detect antibodies against these viruses in the laboratory and also to see whether the virus is still active in the blood. We do this by tracing the RNA or DNA of the virus. In case we detect active viruses in the blood, we try to find out if these people may have transmitted the virus to each other.
For some of my projects, we are collaborating with the national institute for infectious diseases control of the RIVM. This institute is responsible for the national control of many infectious diseases.
The HIV prevalence worldwide; as you can see, most HIV cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa
Acute hepatitis B infections worldwide
Hepatitis C prevalence worldwide
In case you will have some questions about HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C which you want to ask me, my email address is: i.schreuder@erasmusmc.nl.
Below you will find a list of one of some important websites which might be important for you all to learn more about these viruses are:
http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/Pages/home.aspx
http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp
http://www.avert.org/
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