Scholars@Duke
Nick Brazeau

Nick Brazeau

Medical Instructor in the Department of Medicine
Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Scholarly Works - Journal articles

Toward an Open Analysis Ecosystem for Plasmodium Genomic Epidemiology.

Journal article Am J Trop Med Hyg · August 5, 2026 Major advances in Plasmodium sequencing approaches, bioinformatic pipelines, and data analysis tools have provided valuable insights into malaria epidemiology from parasite genomic data. However, translating genetic data into actionable information for dec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genomic insights into Plasmodium vivax population structure and diversity in central Africa.

Journal article Malar J · January 18, 2024 BACKGROUND: Though Plasmodium vivax is the second most common malaria species to infect humans, it has not traditionally been considered a major human health concern in central Africa given the high prevalence of the human Duffy-negative phenotype that is ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using mortuary and burial data to place COVID-19 in Lusaka, Zambia within a global context.

Journal article Nat Commun · June 29, 2023 Reported COVID-19 cases and associated mortality remain low in many sub-Saharan countries relative to global averages, but true impact is difficult to estimate given limitations around surveillance and mortality registration. In Lusaka, Zambia, burial regi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Alternative epidemic indicators for COVID-19 in three settings with incomplete death registration systems.

Journal article Sci Adv · June 9, 2023 Not all COVID-19 deaths are officially reported, and particularly in low-income and humanitarian settings, the magnitude of reporting gaps remains sparsely characterized. Alternative data sources, including burial site worker reports, satellite imagery of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reassessing Reported Deaths and Estimated Infection Attack Rate during the First 6 Months of the COVID-19 Epidemic, Delhi, India.

Journal article Emerging infectious diseases · April 2022 India reported >10 million coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases and 149,000 deaths in 2020. To reassess reported deaths and estimate incidence rates during the first 6 months of the epidemic, we used a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transm ... Full text Cite

Estimating the COVID-19 infection fatality ratio accounting for seroreversion using statistical modelling.

Journal article Commun Med (Lond) · 2022 BACKGROUND: The infection fatality ratio (IFR) is a key statistic for estimating the burden of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has been continuously debated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The age-specific IFR can be quantified using antibody sur ... Full text Link to item Cite

Household Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and Plasmodium ovale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2013-2014.

Journal article Clin Infect Dis · December 6, 2021 In a cross-sectional molecular study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 78% of households had ≥1 member infected with Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and/or Plasmodium ovale spp.; 47% of children and 33% of adults tested positive for ≥1 spec ... Full text Link to item Cite

Modelling intensive care unit capacity under different epidemiological scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic in three Western European countries.

Journal article Int J Epidemiol · July 9, 2021 BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed enormous strain on intensive care units (ICUs) in Europe. Ensuring access to care, irrespective of COVID-19 status, in winter 2020-2021 is essential. METHODS: An integrated model of ho ... Full text Link to item Cite

The epidemiology of Plasmodium vivax among adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article Nat Commun · July 7, 2021 Reports of P. vivax infections among Duffy-negative hosts have accumulated throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this growing body of evidence, no nationally representative epidemiological surveys of P. vivax in sub-Saharan Africa have been performed. To ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Burden of Malaria in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article J Infect Dis · June 4, 2021 Despite evidence that older children and adolescents bear the highest burden of malaria, large malaria surveys focus on younger children. We used polymerase chain reaction data from the 2013-2014 Demographic and Health Survey in the Democratic Republic of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using syndromic measures of mortality to capture the dynamics of COVID-19 in Java, Indonesia, in the context of vaccination rollout.

Journal article BMC medicine · June 2021 BackgroundAs in many countries, quantifying COVID-19 spread in Indonesia remains challenging due to testing limitations. In Java, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were implemented throughout 2020. However, as a vaccination campaign launches ... Full text Cite

Within-country age-based prioritisation, global allocation, and public health impact of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2: A mathematical modelling analysis.

Journal article Vaccine · May 21, 2021 The worldwide endeavour to develop safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines has been extraordinary, and vaccination is now underway in many countries. However, the doses available in 2021 are likely to be limited. We extend a mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Leveraging community mortality indicators to infer COVID-19 mortality and transmission dynamics in Damascus, Syria.

Journal article Nat Commun · April 22, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial mortality worldwide. However, to date, countries in the Middle East and Africa have reported considerably lower mortality rates than in Europe and the Americas. Motivated by reports of an overwhelmed health ... Full text Link to item Cite

Plasmodium interspecies interactions during a period of increasing prevalence of Plasmodium ovale in symptomatic individuals seeking treatment: an observational study.

Journal article Lancet Microbe · April 2021 BACKGROUND: The epidemiology and severity of non-falciparum malaria in endemic settings has garnered little attention. We aimed to characterise the prevalence, interaction, clinical risk factors, and temporal trends of non-falciparum Plasmodium species amo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Under the Radar: Epidemiology of Plasmodium ovale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article J Infect Dis · March 29, 2021 BACKGROUND: Plasmodium ovale is an understudied malaria species prevalent throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Little is known about the distribution of ovale malaria and risk factors for infection in areas of high malaria endemicity. METHODS: Using the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Selection of Cytochrome b Mutants Is Rare among Plasmodium falciparum Patients Failing Treatment with Atovaquone-Proguanil in Cambodia.

Journal article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · February 17, 2021 Atovaquone-proguanil remains effective against multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum in Southeast Asia, but resistance is mediated by a single point mutation in cytochrome b (cytb) that can arise during treatment. Among 14 atovaquone-proguanil treatmen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reduction in mobility and COVID-19 transmission.

Journal article Nat Commun · February 17, 2021 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have sought to control SARS-CoV-2 transmission by restricting population movement through social distancing interventions, thus reducing the number of contacts. Mobility data represent an important proxy meas ... Full text Link to item Cite

Database of epidemic trends and control measures during the first wave of COVID-19 in mainland China.

Journal article Int J Infect Dis · January 2021 OBJECTIVES: In this data collation study, we aimed to provide a comprehensive database describing the epidemic trends and responses during the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) throughout the main provinces in China. METHODS: From mid-Janua ... Full text Link to item Cite

State-level tracking of COVID-19 in the United States.

Journal article Nat Commun · December 3, 2020 As of 1st June 2020, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 104,232 confirmed or probable COVID-19-related deaths in the US. This was more than twice the number of deaths reported in the next most severely impacted country. We jointly m ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of molecular testing strategies for COVID-19 control: a mathematical modelling study.

Journal article Lancet Infect Dis · December 2020 BACKGROUND: WHO has called for increased testing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but countries have taken different approaches and the effectiveness of alternative strategies is unknown. We aimed to investigate the potential impact of different testi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Response to COVID-19 in South Korea and implications for lifting stringent interventions.

Journal article BMC Med · October 9, 2020 BACKGROUND: After experiencing a sharp growth in COVID-19 cases early in the pandemic, South Korea rapidly controlled transmission while implementing less stringent national social distancing measures than countries in Europe and the USA. This has led to s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in low-income and middle-income countries: a modelling study.

Journal article Lancet Glob Health · September 2020 BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has the potential to cause substantial disruptions to health services, due to cases overburdening the health system or response measures limiting usual programmatic activities. We aimed to quantify the extent to which disruptions to se ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of COVID-19 and strategies for mitigation and suppression in low- and middle-income countries.

Journal article Science · July 24, 2020 The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a severe threat to public health worldwide. We combine data on demography, contact patterns, disease severity, and health care capacity and quality to understand its impact and inform strategie ... Full text Link to item Cite

Spatial and epidemiological drivers of Plasmodium falciparum malaria among adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article BMJ Glob Health · June 2020 BACKGROUND: Adults are frequently infected with malaria and may serve as a reservoir for further transmission, yet we know relatively little about risk factors for adult infections. In this study, we assessed malaria risk factors among adults using samples ... Full text Link to item Cite

The impact of antimalarial resistance on the genetic structure of Plasmodium falciparum in the DRC.

Journal article Nat Commun · April 30, 2020 The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) harbors 11% of global malaria cases, yet little is known about the spatial and genetic structure of the parasite population in that country. We sequence 2537 Plasmodium falciparum infections, including a nationall ... Full text Link to item Cite

Falciparum malaria from coastal Tanzania and Zanzibar remains highly connected despite effective control efforts on the archipelago.

Journal article Malar J · January 28, 2020 BACKGROUND: Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago has made significant gains in malaria control over the last decade and is a target for malaria elimination. Despite consistent implementation of effective tools since 2002, elimination has not been achieved. Impo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Anonymised and aggregated crowd level mobility data from mobile phones suggests that initial compliance with COVID-19 social distancing interventions was high and geographically consistent across the UK.

Journal article Wellcome Open Res · 2020 Background: Since early March 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic across the United Kingdom has led to a range of social distancing policies, which have resulted in reduced mobility across different regions. Crowd level data on mobile phone usage can be used as a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Loss of daptomycin susceptibility in clinical Staphylococcus epidermidis infection coincided with variants in WalK.

Journal article Evolution, medicine, and public health · January 2020 Daptomycin (DAP) is key in treating multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus infections. Diminished susceptibility to DAP is emerging among Staphylococcus epidermidis strains although mechanisms for non-susceptibility (NS) remain poorly understood. ... Full text Cite

Pooled Deep Sequencing of Drug Resistance Loci from Plasmodium falciparum Parasites across Ethiopia.

Journal article Am J Trop Med Hyg · November 2019 Although Ethiopia has an overall lower prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum among countries in Africa, the emergence of drug resistance could seriously hinder elimination efforts. Using samples collected from five therapeutic efficacy studies conducted in 2 ... Full text Link to item Cite

The changing landscape of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Journal article BMC Infect Dis · October 22, 2019 BACKGROUND: Drug resistant malaria is a growing concern in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where previous studies indicate that parasites resistant to sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine or chloroquine are spatially clustered. This study explores longitu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prevalence of Molecular Markers of Antimalarial Drug Resistance across Altitudinal Transmission Zones in Highland Western Uganda.

Journal article Am J Trop Med Hyg · October 2019 We explored spatial variation in the prevalence of established molecular markers of antimalarial resistance across a geographically diverse, highland region of western Uganda. We identified Plasmodium falciparum CQ resistance transporter 76T mutations in a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Plasmodium vivax chloroquine resistance links to pvcrt transcription in a genetic cross.

Journal article Nat Commun · September 20, 2019 Mainstay treatment for Plasmodium vivax malaria has long relied on chloroquine (CQ) against blood-stage parasites plus primaquine against dormant liver-stage forms (hypnozoites), however drug resistance confronts this regimen and threatens malaria control ... Full text Link to item Cite

Plasmodium vivax Infections in Duffy-Negative Individuals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article Am J Trop Med Hyg · November 2018 Although Plasmodium vivax has been assumed to be absent from sub-Saharan Africa because of the protective mutation conferring the Duffy-negative phenotype, recent evidence has suggested that P. vivax cases are prevalent in these regions. We selected 292 dr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Partner-Drug Resistance and Population Substructuring of Artemisinin-Resistant Plasmodium falciparum in Cambodia.

Journal article Genome biology and evolution · June 2017 Plasmodium falciparum in western Cambodia has developed resistance to artemisinin and its partner drugs, causing frequent treatment failure. Understanding this evolution can inform the deployment of new therapies. We investigated the genetic architecture o ... Full text Cite

Selective sweep suggests transcriptional regulation may underlie Plasmodium vivax resilience to malaria control measures in Cambodia.

Journal article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 13, 2016 Cambodia, in which both Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum are endemic, has been the focus of numerous malaria-control interventions, resulting in a marked decline in overall malaria incidence. Despite this decline, the number of P vivax cases has ... Full text Link to item Cite

Longitudinal Pooled Deep Sequencing of the Plasmodium vivax K12 Kelch Gene in Cambodia Reveals a Lack of Selection by Artemisinin.

Journal article The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · December 2016 The emergence of artemisinin resistance among Plasmodium falciparum in the Greater Mekong subregion threatens malaria control interventions and is associated with multiple unique mutations in K13 (PF3D7_1343700). The aim of this study was to survey Cambodi ... Full text Cite

Distribution of a Chimpanzee Social Custom Is Explained by Matrilineal Relationship Rather Than Conformity.

Journal article Current biology : CB · November 2016 High-arm grooming is a form of chimpanzee grooming in which two individuals mutually groom while each raising one arm. Palm-to-palm clasping (PPC) is a distinct style of high-arm grooming in which the grooming partners clasp each other's raised palms. In w ... Full text Cite

Exclusive Breastfeeding and Clinical Malaria Risk in 6-Month-Old Infants: A Cross-Sectional Study from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Journal article Am J Trop Med Hyg · October 5, 2016 The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months of life. However, the effect of EBF on malaria risk remains unclear. In the present study, 137 EBF infants and 358 non-EBF infants from the Democratic Republic of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Pooled Amplicon Deep Sequencing of Candidate Plasmodium falciparum Transmission-Blocking Vaccine Antigens.

Journal article The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · January 2016 Polymorphisms within Plasmodium falciparum vaccine candidate antigens have the potential to compromise vaccine efficacy. Understanding the allele frequencies of polymorphisms in critical binding regions of antigens can help in the designing of strain-trans ... Full text Cite

Dental eruption in East African wild chimpanzees.

Journal article Journal of human evolution · May 2015 Knowledge of chimpanzee development has played an essential role in our understanding of the evolution of human ontogeny. However, recent studies of wild ape dentitions have cast doubt on the use of developmental standards derived from captive individuals. ... Full text Cite

May-Thurner syndrome: diagnosis and management.

Journal article VASA. Zeitschrift fur Gefasskrankheiten · March 2013 For over fifty years, the pathogenesis of May-Thurner syndrome (MTS) has been associated with chronic left common iliac vein compression resulting in the formation of intraluminal, permanent obstructive lesions. However, despite this association, the mecha ... Full text Cite

Critical limb ischemia: an update for interventional radiologists.

Journal article Diagnostic and interventional radiology (Ankara, Turkey) · March 2013 Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a growing epidemic with bleak patient outcomes. A variety of treatment modalities have been adopted to address CLI based on comorbidities, life expectancy, and the nature of the arterial disease. With advances in technology ... Full text Cite

May-Thurner syndrome: can it be diagnosed by a single MR venography study?

Journal article Diagn Interv Radiol · 2013 PURPOSE: We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal stability of left common iliac vein (LCIV) compression by the right common iliac artery on magnetic resonance venography (MRV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 214 patients diagnosed w ... Full text Link to item Cite