Completed

MICROTONEViral and Microbial Circulation Between Humans, Domesticated and Wild Animals Along an Ecotone, Democratic Republic of Congo

0 criteria met from your profileSee at a glance how your profile meets each eligibility criteria.
What is being tested

blood sampling

+ stool collection

+ Participatory activity and contact investigation

BiologicalOther
Who is being recruted

Animal Diseases

+ Infections

+ Zoonoses

Over 18 Years
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Basic Science Study

Interventional
Study Start: March 2019
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorInstitut Pasteur
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: March 15, 2019

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

The MICROTONE study sheds light on zoonotic disease emergence by examining social and ecological pathways facilitating microbial and viral flows between people and selected wild and domesticated animals along a gradient of ecological change in a forest-savanna mosaic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an epicenter of zoonotic disease emergence. The investigators analyze potential viral and bacterial overlap among humans and animals and explain this overlap (or not) through social sciences and ecological analyses of human and animal mobilities, practices and contacts. This multi-disciplinary, multi-species investigation in an ecotone (a transitional ecological zone linked to zoonotic disease emergence) offers a "pre-history" of spillover and emergence, tracing an ecological zeb of virome and microbial sharing among humans and animals. It will elucidate why such microbial and viral flows occur. To conduct this investigation,there are two human sub-studies: the social sciences participatory study; and the clinical study. The clinical study will involve 30 human subjects from whom blood and stool samples will be collected. The social sciences participatory study will involve self-collected activity and animal contact data and oral interviews among 60 human subjects.

Official TitleViral and Microbial Circulation Between Humans, Domesticated and Wild Animals Along an Ecotone, Democratic Republic of Congo
NCT04012164
Principal SponsorInstitut Pasteur
Last updated: January 28, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

60 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Basic Science Study

Basic science studies help researchers understand how the body works or how a disease develops. They don't test treatments, but they build the foundation for future therapies.



Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

Over 18 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Conditions

Pathology

Animal DiseasesInfectionsZoonoses

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 years or older * Accept participation in study * Residing in one of three villages selected * In good health and able to conduct habitual daily activities * Accept self-collection of 2g of stool * Accept blood collection (2-2.5 ml) by a medical professional * Accept to self-collect daily activities and contacts with selected wild and domesticated animals for five months * Accept to participate in an anthropological-historical interview on changing practices and contacts with wild and domesticated animals Exclusion Criteria: * Vulnerable adults will not be included * Women who are pregnant or nursing at the time of recruitment and inclusion will not be included. * Adults declaring themselves ill and unable to conduct their habitual daily activities will not be included. * Adults with a chronic illness will not be included * Adults who have a family member already included in the study will not be included. * Adults refusing either recording of interviews or note-taking during interviews will not be included.

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives

One single intervention group is designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups

Group I

Experimental
30 adult participants will be recruited to self-report daily activities and contacts with domesticated and wild animals for a five month period. Following the five months of data collection, we will collect 5ml blood and 2g stool from each participant. From the fifth month of investigation, an additional 30 adult participants will participate in oral anthropological, historical interviews to develop the socio-historical context of their changing activities and relations with selected domesticated and wild animals. No other intervention will be performed.

Study Objectives

Primary Objectives

Secondary Objectives

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 1 location

Suspended

INRB

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the CongoOpen INRB in Google Maps
CompletedOne Study Center
MICROTONE | Viral and Microbial Circulation Between Humans, Domesticated and Wild Animals Along an Ecotone, Democratic Republic of Congo | PatLynk