Offices and Departments

Naval Medical Research Center Detachment (NMRCD)

NMRCD's mission is to identify infectious disease threats of military relevance in Peru and surrounding countries in the South American region, and to determine the most effective means to assess, monitor, diagnose, prevent and treat these diseases to minimize their impact on the war fighter's operational capabilities. All NMRCD research sections conduct surveillance for emerging diseases in collaboration with local efforts and to develop the capability to detect and control effectively and prevent these diseases.

Research Departments

Virology: Laboratory and field studies are conducted on HIV, dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, Mayaro fever, oropouche fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome to understand better their epidemiology, pathogenesis, immunology and virology. Research endeavors include efforts for the development of diagnostic tests. A more recent project was initiated to evaluate candidate dengue virus DNA vaccines.

Entomology: Laboratory and field studies are focused on the biology, taxonomy and population dynamics of mosquitoes and their potential roles as vectors for arboviruses, evaluation of control strategies for Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue viruses, biology of anopheles mosquito vectors of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, and the insecticide resistance patterns among mosquito vectors of dengue viruses and Plasmodium falciparum.

Bacteriology: Among several projects, the major thrust of the bacterial disease research effort is on diarrheal disease pathogens, including a collaborative prospective cohort study to develop a vaccine for campylobacter, an important cause of enteric illness. This area of research investigates: a) the etiologies and incidence of diarrheal diseases among adult visitors and expatriates in Peru; b) studies for the development of a vaccine for travelers' diarrhea; and, c) studies on the cellular immune response elicited by brucella infections.

Parasitology: The primary aims of this effort are to a) determine the most effective drugs for the prevention and treatment of falciparum malaria; b) evaluate candidate falciparum DNA vaccines; c) evaluate diagnostic tests for malaria; d) develop a field site for testing malaria vaccines; and, e) evaluate the safety and efficacy of pentamidine and glucantime drugs for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

For more information on NMRCD visit their web site.