Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

FIEBRE aims to design new evidence-based guidelines to manage fever, thereby ensuring that patients get drugs that give them the best chance of recovery, and thereby help stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major global health problem.

Pills and a thermometer

On 8 March 2018, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) announced the start of a major new global study, the 4-year Febrile Illness Evaluation in a Broad Range of Endemicities (FIEBRE) project.

By identifying the leading causes of fever in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and how fever patients are cared for, FIEBRE aims to design new evidence-based guidelines to manage fever, thereby ensuring that patients get drugs that give them the best chance of recovery, and thereby help stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major global health problem.

Funded by UKAid from DFID, FIEBRE will be conducted by LSHTM with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Universities of Oxford, Barcelona, and Otago, as well as partner institutions within five study countries – Laos, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

MORU’s Lao PDR Unit, LOMWRU, and the Microbiology Laboratory team within Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, will work with Vientiane Provincial Hospital for the Laos arm of this multicentre study. In addition, Yoel Lubell of MORU MAEMOD will coordinate the biomarker investigations, so that by its end, the study will have a better idea as to which biomarkers best distinguish between viral and bacterial infections, and which (if any) can predict severe outcomes.

“There is an urgent need to understand the aetiologies of fevers across Asia and Africa with consensus protocols to facilitate between country comparisons, that have so far eluded us, to inform patient treatment policies,” explained Oxford Prof Paul Newton, LOWMRU Director. “We will work to recruit and diagnose inpatients and outpatients to improve our understanding of the causes of fever in the Mekong River valley and how these compare with other countries and to work for these results to be translated into health policy.”

David Mabey, Professor of Communicable Diseases at the LSHTM and Principal Investigator of the FIEBRE project, said: “The world has made great strides in tackling malaria. Surprisingly, there has been limited research on other potential causes of febrile illness, such as infections by bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and the WHO does not provide specific guidance on the management of non-malarial fevers.

“We want to identify the treatable and preventable causes of fever in children and adults in Africa and Asia, and to identify those most at risk of different infections. Our goal is to develop guidelines that can be a blueprint for the effective management of patients with fever in different settings.”

Read the full LSHTM story announcing the FIEBRE study Major new project to reveal leading causes of fever in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Similar stories

New antibiotic combination speeds recovery from severe scrub typhus, which infects 1 million people per year

Treating patients ill with severe scrub typhus – a life-threatening infection that kills tens of thousands of people a year - with a combination of intravenous antibiotics doxycycline and azithromycin is significantly more effective than the current monotherapy of using either drug alone, say researchers in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Watch our webinar - Radical cure of vivax malaria: can we do better?

The three presentations and expert discussion by Dr Rob Commons, Dr Alison Roth and Dr James Watson, chaired by Professor Sir Nicholas White (Mahidol Oxford Research Unit) and Dr Chau Nguyen Hoang (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit), are now available.

Study supports evidence ivermectin not effective to treat COVID-19

21 Feb 2023 Oxford UK - High doses of the drug ivermectin, controversially recommended by some high-profile political and media figures during the COVID-19 pandemic, is ineffective at treating the COVID-19 virus, say University of Oxford-affiliated researchers in a study published today in eLife.

Phase II Malaria vaccine trial begins in Thailand

The Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) has begun a Phase II trial to demonstrate that R21/matrix M is well-tolerated and immunogenic when administered with the antimalarial drug combination.

Pilot study detects diverse DNA in ingredients of falsified tablets

A recent multidisciplinary pilot study, originating from LOMWRU and the Medicine Quality Research Group of IDDO and MORU, investigated whether bacterial, plant, fungal and animal DNA in the ingredients and from the environment (eDNA) could be detected from falsified (aka counterfeit) tablets.

Ricardo Aguas awarded Associate Professorship

We are delighted to announce that Ricardo Aguas has been awarded the Associate Professor title, in recognition of his achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine.