Collaboration for the control of cysticercosis/echinococcosis in Vietnam.

ABSTRACT

A collaborative international project to control cysticercosis and cystic echinococcosis in Vietnam began in 2000. The project has drawn together the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology (NIMPE), Vietnam, and the WHO (Hanoi). Other contributors are the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine (PLITM) in Belgium, the University of Salford, England, and the Asahikawa Medical College (AMC). Based on my experience of similar collaborations on cysticercosis in Indonesia, I offer a brief explanation of what my group at AMC has been doing and what we can do. The most important proposals are; 1) how to transfer up-to-date technology for differential sero- and molecular diagnosis that will be of use in an epidemiological survey of cysticercosis and echinococcosis as well in the identification of patients; 2) how to collaborate with the NIMPE for the control of these diseases; 3) how to encourage the young generation of researchers in the NIMPE to participate in the project.