Drug resistant pathogens are one of the key public health challenges today. Because drug resistance is an evolutionary problem at the heart, we need a better understanding of the evolutionary processes that drive the emergence and spread of drug resistance. To better understand the selective forces of resistance in different ecological contexts, Dr. Silvie Huijben studies the selection for resistant parasites of two tropical disease systems, malaria and leishmaniasis. By studying clinical samples from HIV-positive and HIV-negative pregnant women of five malaria-endemic countries Dr. Huijben aims to unravel the link between HIV infection and the frequency of malaria drug resistance. Additionally, Dr. Huijben studies the selection for resistant leishmaniasis parasites in the non-human host. Explicitly, she researches the risk of the veterinary treatment practices that tend to facilitate resistant parasites in dogs for human public health.
