Home| Professor of Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Diseases |
| Director, Mycobacterium Reference Unit |
Contact details:
| Tel: | +44 20 7377 5895 |
| Fax: | +44 20 7539 3459 |
| Email: | f.drobniewski@qmul.ac.uk |
| Address: | HPA Mycobacterium Reference Unit, |
Biography
Prof. Francis Drobniewski is the Director of the Health Protection Agency National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory (NMRL), Consultant Microbiologist and TB Physician, and Professor of Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Diseases at King's and Queen Mary Colleges , the University of London and Visiting Professor in Infectious Diseases, Imperial College , London . The NMRL is the HPA's national reference and research centre for TB and mycobacterial diseases. He heads the Clinical TB and HIV group within the Centre for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Queen Mary, University of London and his interests, and that of his group, relate to all aspects of tuberculosis and respiratory infections especially molecular epidemiology and drug resistance, AIDS, international public health, and opportunistic diseases in the immunocompromised.
Research Activity
The Clinical TB and HIV Group and HPA National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory is a new research group with the Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science of Barts and the London School of Medicine. The NMRL is the UK Health Protection Agency's national reference centre for tuberculosis and mycobacterial diseases and is a WHO SupraNational Reference Laboratory.
The Group's research interests relate to all aspects of tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases, respiratory infections, and HIV particularly its interaction with TB; we focus on disease diagnosis, the molecular epidemiology of TB and HIV, understanding drug resistance and disease tropisms, and broader translational research and public health problems posed by these diseases both in the UK and overseas. We have an international staff working on collaborative national and international clinical, laboratory and public health topics relating to TB and HIV in Russia and Ukraine currently and in partnership with other institutions in Africa.
Key Publications
• Scott, JAG, Hall, AJ, Muyodi, C, Lowe, B, Ross, M, Chohan, B, Mandaliya, K, Getambu, E and Gleeson, F, Drobniewski F A and Marsh, K. (2000). The aetiology, outcome and mortality risk factors for acute pneumonia in adults on the Coast of Kenya . Lancet 355: 1225-1230
• Drobniewski F A . , Eltringham, I, Graham, C, Magee, JG, Smith, EG and Watt, B. (2002). A national study of clinical and laboratory factors affecting the survival of patients with multiple drug resistant tuberculosis in the UK . Thorax 57:810-816. .
• Drobniewski F A , Balabanova, Y, Ruddy , M, L Weldon , L, Jeltkova , K, Brown, T, Malomanova , N, Elizarova , E, Melentev , A, Mutovkin , E, Zhaharova , S, Fedorin , I. (2002). Rifampin and multiple drug resistant tuberculosis in the Russian civilian and prison sectors - dominance of the Beijing strain family. Emerging Infectious Diseases 8(11):1320-6.
• Baker, L, Brown, T, Maiden, M and Drobniewski F A . (2004). Silent nucleotide polymorphisms and a phylogeny for Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Emerging Infectious Diseases ;10(9):1568-77 .
• Drobniewski F A . , Balabanova, Y, Ruddy, M, Graham, C, Kuznetzov, SI, Gusarova, GI, Zakharova, SM, Melentyev , AS , Fedorin, IM . Tuberculosis, HIV seroprevalence, and intravenous drug abuse in Russian prisoners. Eur Respir J . 2005; 26; 298-304.
• Drobniewski F A . , Balabanova, Y , Nikolayevsky, V, Ruddy, M , Kuznetzov, SI, Zakharova, SM, Melentyev , AS , Fedorin, IM. Drug resistant tuberculosis, clinical virulence and the dominance of the Beijing strain family in Russia . JAMA 2005; 293:2726-2731.
• Balabanova, Y, Coker, R, Fedorin, I, Zakharova, Plavinskij, S, Krukov, SN, R Atun, R and Drobniewski F A . Intra- and inter-observer agreement in chest X-ray interpretation amongst Russian physicians: implications for active screening for tuberculosis- an observational study. BMJ 200513;331(7513):379-82 .
• Coker, R, McKee, M, Atun, R, Dimitrova, B, Dodonova, K, Kuznetsov, S, Drobniewski F A . . Risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis in Russia : a case-control study. BMJ 2006 332(7533):85-7.
• Sam, IC, Drobniewski, F , More, P, Kemp, M and Brown, T. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampin resistance, in the United Kingdom . . Emerging Infectious Diseases 2006; 12:(5):752-9
• Crampin, AC, Glynn, JR, Traore, H, Yates, MD, Mwaungulu, L, Mwenebabu, M, Chaguluka, SD, Floyd, S, Drobniewski , F and Fine., PEM. Transmission and transmissibility: the proportion of M tuberculosis transmission attributable to recognised close contacts and to HIV positive sources in northern Malawi . Emerging Infectious Diseases 2006;12(5):729-35
• Nikolayevskyy, V, Gopaul,K, Balabanova , Y, Brown, T, Fedorin , F and Drobniewski, F. Differentiation of M.tuberculosis strains within a population with a predominance of Beijing strains. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2006; 12, 1406-1413 .
