Group A Streptococcus:  A Neglected Global Pathogen

with Dr. Thushan de Silva, MBChB BSc (Hons) DTM&H MRCP FRCPath PhD

10:30 am - 11:00 am via Zoom

Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus, Strep A) causes a spectrum of acute infections, from mild sore throats and skin infections, to toxic shock syndrome and invasive disease. Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is an irreversible and destructive long term consequence from repeated untreated Strep A infections, which is now almost exclusively confined to lower-resourced settings. This talk will provide an overview of Strep A, and present epidemiology, genetic diversity, and immunology data from studies undertaken in The Gambia; it will highlight the importance of understanding Strep A carriage, disease and immunity in African settings to accelerate vaccine development to reduce the burden of RHD.

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Dr. Thushan de Silva is a Professor of Infectious Diseases at University of Sheffield. He is an Infectious Diseases Clinician Scientist with a programme of research centred around clinical discovery science in the UK and Africa. His research group applies a broad range of methods including human immunology, epidemiology, molecular diagnostics and genomics, to establish how pathogens interact with human hosts at population and individual levels. They work primarily on respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, and Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus), investigating the natural history of infection and immunity to inform the design of diagnostic tools, vaccines, and other preventative measures. A specific area of interest is also how immunocompromising conditions such as HIV and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation impact the clinical risk and vaccine-induced immunity to respiratory viruses. 

Dr. de Silva is a part of the Clinical Infection Research Group (CIRG) in the Medical School at the University of Sheffield and is an Honorary Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases in the South Yorkshire Regional Department of Infection and Tropical Medicine in Sheffield. He is a co-director of the Florey Institute of Infection and lead of the host-pathogen interactions theme. He is also a Principal Investigator in the Vaccines and Immunity Theme at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

He completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of Bristol in 2000. Following postgraduate clinical training in General Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and HIV in Oxford and London, he moved to Sheffield for higher specialist training in Infectious Diseases & Microbiology in 2004. After relocating to The MRC Unit The Gambia in 2007, he was awarded a British Infection Society Research Fellowship (2007-8), followed by a MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship and PhD (2008 – 11) under the supervision of Professor Sarah Rowland-Jones and Professor Robin Weiss, to study the pathogenesis of HIV-2 infection and the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 and HIV-2 in West Africa.

He joined the University of Sheffield in 2013 as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases & Microbiology. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Fellowship (2016 -2021), based between Imperial College London and the MRC Unit The Gambia, to study the immunogenicity of intranasal Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine in children and bidirectional interactions with nasopharyngeal microbiota. He returned to the University of Sheffield as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in 2020 and led a programme of SARS-CoV-2 research through the COVID-19 pandemic, including roles as lead PI in Sheffield for the COG-UK consortium and the PITCH study. He was awarded an MBE in 2021 for services to COVID-19 research.