Our research

Pilot data from CCBRT Hospital, Dar es Salaam showed significantly lower levels of serum vitamin D in cases of TEON compared to healthy local controls; yet the healthy controls also had ‘low’ levels of serum vitamin D. The Tanzanian diet contains almost no vitamin D sources, hence vitamin D is a biomarker for sunlight exposure. But Tanzania lies just 6 degrees south of the equator, how can people have inadequate sunlight exposure? Evidence is mounting that urban, Sub-Saharan African populations are lacking in vitamin D and hence UV light exposure. UV light has effects independent of vitamin D and we plan to use our study to further investigate this.

Thanks to the Fight for Sight/RCOphth John Lee Primer Fellowship we are performing a pilot, case-control study in Dar es Salaam looking at a number of areas in relation to TEON:

  • Sunlight exposure
  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin B12 & Folate
  • Vitamin B1
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Mitochondrial genetics
  • Urbanisation
  • Peripheral neuropathy & hearing loss
  • OCT scans

Our research involves looking at biomarkers of oxidative stress for the first time in TEON patients, as well as the first in-depth mitochondrial genetic analysis of these patients. With this unique approach to investigating TEON we hope to inform larger-scale studies and eventually produce an effective intervention for TEON patients.