Bandim Health Project

OPV is the live attenuated vaccine against polio virus. OPV has been key in almost eradicating polio infection. Intriguingly, OPV has been associated with lower all-cause mortality and morbidity. These beneficial OPV effects were seen in contexts with no circulating polio virus and thus have nothing to do with the specific effects of OPV against polio infection. They have been coined "non-specific effects" (NSEs). Such NSEs have also been observed for other live attenuated vaccines such as BCG vaccine and measles vaccine. The underlying immunological mechanisms are unknown. Other live vaccines with beneficial NSEs have been shown to induce epigenetic changes leading to "trained immunity". They have also been associated with decreased inflammation. In the present study it will be investigates whether OPV can induce trained immunity, reduce inflammation, and induce epigenetic modifications of the innate immune cells in senior citizens in Guinea-Bissau.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) will affect
650 million adults worldwide by 2040 and about as many will have pre-diabetes. Chronic hyperinsulinemia/insulin resistance precedes T2D development. Studies link insulin resistance with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
In Guinea-Bissau, a low-income country in West Africa, the T2D incidence is largely unknown and there is an acute lack of diabetes doctors, nurses and other diabetes educators. They hardly have access to insulin, and mortality from T2D complications is high. Previous studies by the Bandim Health Project (www.bandim.org) in the country show that the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has non-specific effects, well beyond tuberculosis prevention, conferring a general protection against unrelated pathogens. At the same time, studies from the US have also shown that BCG can significantly improve glycemic control in Type-1 diabetes (T1D) patients. Yet, no such studies have been done in T2D or pre-diabetes.
The purpose of the present study is to administer BCG to patients with pre-diabetes, in order to reduce hyperinsulinemia/chronic inflammation, a novel strategy to flatten the growing T2D incidence.

This study assesses topics as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and cancer screening methods. The focus will be on evaluating feasibility of implementing novel cancer screening modalities in a low-resource setting in Guinea-Bissau and further to estimate the prevalence of the precancerous virus HPV amongst women living with HIV. In the study the investigators will collect urinary and vaginal self-samples for HPV testing, and further evaluate the feasibility of implementing the devices as screening modalities through questionnaires given to the women.