Background
Dr SIMO has obtained a Bachelor in Biochemistry in 2012 at the University of Yaoundé I,Cameroon. Then, she was granted a scholarship by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie for a Master’s degree in Tropical Infectiology at the Ecole Doctorale Regionale d’Afrique Centrale en Infectiologie Tropicale, Franceville, Gabon where she graduated in 2013. Thereafter, as the top of the year, she has benefitted from a second scholarship by the same agency for a PhD thesis in Virology which was done between Gabon (Centre International de Recherche Medicale de Franceville), the Central African Republic (Institut Pasteur de Bangui), Cameroon (Centre Pasteur du Cameroun) and France (Institut Pasteur Paris) and ended in 2018. She has been working on the epidemiology of emerging and re-emerging viruses including chikungunya, dengue, monkeypox, and yellow fever among others using breakthrough technologies like multiplex liquid phase immunoassays and next generation sequencing technologies (MinIon and Illumina) as well as more classical virology tools like real time PCR and virus isolation in animal and in vitro models.
Research:
- Areas of interest:
Chikungunya, dengue, zika, yellow fever, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Rift valley fever, Aedes-borne viruses, ticks-borne viruses, human, animals, zoonosis
- Research – an overview of his research areas(s)
Dr SIMO is conducting a research on the incidence of chikungunya, dengue, and zika among acute febrile patient seen in public hospitals. Indeed, arboviral diseases are clinically undifferentiable from the hyperendemic malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, they are usually misdiagnosed. Dr SIMO is working in various public hospitals in Douala, Yaoundé and Kribi to pinpoint the burden of these illnesses and the way to successfully address it.
Additionally, she is investigating the role of cattle and small ruminants in the epidemiology of Rift Valley fever and Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, two highly lethal diseases which affected both humans and animals. This study is conducted in livestock markets and in farms among in livestock and the at-risk population who gravitate around them the Centre and Adamawa region respectively
Finally, Dr SIMO is interested in the role of livestock ticks and mosquitoes as vectors of arboviruses.
- Research Areas:
Arboviruses and their vectors
- PhD Students:
- Mrs Francine SADO
Publications
1. Simo Tchetgna et al, 2017. Molecular characterisation of the Kamese virus, an Unassigned rhabdovirus, isolated from Culex pruina in Central African Republic. Vector-borne and Zoonotic diseases, volume 17 (6) p 447-51.
2. Sem Ouilibona, Simo Tchetgna et al , 2018. Full-length genome sequence of a Sindbis virus strain isolated from Culex cinereus in 1977 in Bozo, the Central African Republic. Genome Announc. 2018 Jun 28;6(26).
Simo Tchetgna et al., 2019. Viral exploration of negative acute febrile cases observed during chikungunya outbreaks in Gabon. Intervirology. 2018;61(4):174-184
3. Simo Tchetgna et al 2019, Complete Genome Sequence of the Tataguine Virus, Isolated in the Central African Republic in 1972 from a Human with an Acute Febrile Syndrome. Microbiol Resour Announc. 2019 Feb 21;8(8)
