Official FB Update

Thought I’d post my second official FB report for you all to see; it gives a good idea of how my project is progressing.

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Wow, what a month; where to start? I’ll go with the lab first. Things have progressed nicely since last update. Even though there was another strike they didn’t lock the gates and as we have our keys the only major change was a quiet campus. I have been working on two projects at the lab, Onchocerciasis and Chagas disease. For Onco we have continued to decapitate flies for the incumbent DNA extraction. The head separation is necessary because if we find parasite DNA in the bodies versus the heads it tells us two different things. A positive body shows the fly was infected while discovering parasite DNA in the head means the fly was able to infect humans. The sheer number of flies is daunting (25,000) but we are making good progress and have separated over half at this point.

In the Chagas project we have run ELISA tests (a great new technique I have learned!) for all 246 samples from Arajuno in Pastaza province and at this point we have 5 putative positives. In addition, we have started growing a live T. cruzi cell culture to use for the next round of testing. In order to further analyze our preliminary results we will be running an ELISA test for total antigen and a Western blot using the live parasites from the cultures as a positive control (these additional tests are to confirm if the patients really do have the disease). At the conclusion of these studies we will be making a short trip to Arajuno in order to inform the people of their condition, administer chest X-rays and EKGs to look for parasite mediated damage, and provide treatment if chronic manifestations are encountered.

At this point I have been taking an Immunology class for about three weeks and I am already very glad to be pursuing studies at UCE. I was apprehensive before starting, being the only gringo there (definitely not USFQ!), and wondering if my Spanish would be sufficient in the demanding atmosphere of a medical school curriculum. So far, while not easy, things have been going very well. I understand more each day and the whole experience is really pushing my Spanish forward. The material is fascinating to me and even more exciting I am making friends with many of my classmates. On Tuesday I was put on the spot to translate an English word into Spanish in front of the whole class of 70 and pulled it out well enough☺

Making friends here, which Susana made out to be nigh impossible, is really going quite well. My family, the local street guards, neighbors, coworkers at the lab, and now in class! I’ve gone biking, to lunches/dinners, played baseball and soccer, and have plans to go to church, attend a lab get-together, and play a gal in chess. I’ll be sure to let you know how much actually comes to fruition!

One big highlight of the past month was visiting HCJB/Hospital Vozandes with Theo (a fellow lab-worker/missionary from Switzerland). Here I met the National Onchocerciasis elimination team. They used to be conducting the lab work we currently do, but delegated it and now focus on fly collection, ivermectin dispersal, patient treatment, and other logistics of coordinating with OEPA (Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas). It was great to meet with them and learn more of the big picture; knowing what I am working for and how it is improving people’s lives makes the sometimes tedious lab work worth every second.

So, what’s next? As laid out above, the Chagas project is really taking off in the coming weeks. Onco work will continue as well. At this point I have suspended the idea of volunteering at a hospital or tutoring anyone in English; I am quite busy and like to do fewer things well than to do many at half-effort. That being said, my class ends in early March and I hope to pursue my other ideas more at that time. Another long-term goal is to spend a week or so volunteering in Hospital Vozandes Shell, located in the Orient. During my visit to HCJB I was given contact information for the director there and after talking with Theo about the facility in Shell I feel this would be an invaluable experience.

Until next time, Michael