Dr. John Kiiru profile

Current Positions:

1. Senior researcher KEMRI
2. Post-Doctoral Researcher:- University of Liverpool/KEMRI/UoN/ILRI: Zoonotic and Emerging Diseases Program
3. Lecturer, ITROMID Post-Graduate Program (KEMRI/JKUAT)

Academic summary:

PhD (Bio-Science Engineering, KuLeuven, Belgium), MSc (Molecular Biology, KuLeuven, Belgium), MSc (Microbiology, UoNairobi), BSc (Bio. Sci University of Nairobi)

Bio-Data.

Dr. John Kiiru has over 10 years of experience as a researcher at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) at the Centre for Microbiology Research. He is currently a Post-Doctoral researcher in the University of Liverpool/KEMRI/UoN/ILRI Zoonotic and Emerging Diseases Program. His research objective has been to integrate epidemiology and Molecular Biology techniques for mapping the spread of infectious diseases with a special focus on multidrug resistant (MDR) strains. He has published extensively on Salmonella, E. coli, and Vibrio among other pathogens with special focus on mobile genetic elements and extended spectrum beta-lactamases. He is also a faculty member of the Wellcome Trust International Training Programs in molecular aspects of infectious pathogens. He also teaches various themes in molecular microbiology at the KEMRI/JKUAT ITROMID post-graduate course and is an invited lecturer in JKUAT and University of Nairobi. He is a member of the National Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Research Program (IPDRP).

Selected Publications

• Kariuki S, Okoro C, Kiiru J, Njoroge S, Omuse G, Langridge G, Kingsley RA, Dougan G, Revathi G. Ceftriaxone-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium Sequence Type 313 from Kenyan Patients Is Associated with the blaCTX-M-15 Gene on a Novel IncHI2 Plasmid. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Jun;59(6):3133-9. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00078-15. Epub 2015 Mar 16.
• Kiiru J, Mutreja A, Mohamed AA, Kimani RW, Mwituria J, Sanaya RO, Muyodi J, Revathi G, Parkhill J, Thomson N, Dougan G, Kariuki S. A Study on the Geophylogeny of Clinical and Environmental Vibrio cholerae in Kenya. PLoS One. 2013 Sep 16;8(9):e74829. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074829.
•  Kiiru J, Butaye P, Goddeeris B, Kariuki S. Analysis for prevalence and physical linkages amongst integrons, ISEcp1, ISCR1, Tn21 and Tn7 encountered in Escherichia coli strains obtained from hospitalised and non-hospitalised patients in Kenya during a 19-year period. BMC Microbiol. 2013 May 17;13:109. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-13-109.
•  Kimani MM, Kiiru J, Matu MM, Chokwe T, Saidi H. Evaluation of POSSUM and P-POSSUM as predictors of mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing laparotomy at a referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya Ann Afr. Surg., 2010; 5: 28-32
•  de la Fé Rodríguez PY, Kiiru J, Martin LO, Muñoz EC, Butaye P, Cox E, Goddeeris BM. Characterization and clonal grouping of pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from intestinal contents of diarrheic piglets in Villa Clara province, Cuba, according to their antibiotic resistance and ERIC-PCR profiles.Vet Microbiol. 2012 Jan 27;154(3-4):425-8
•  Kiiru J, Kariuki S, Goddeeris BM, Revathi G, Maina TW, Ndegwa DW, Muyodi J, Butaye P. Escherichia coli strains from Kenyan patients carrying conjugatively transferable broad-spectrum β-lactamase, qnr, aac(6′)-Ib-cr and 16S rRNA methyltransferase genes. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2011 Jul;66(7):1639-42.
•  Kariuki S, Revathi G, Kiiru J, Mengo DM, Mwituria J, Muyodi J, Munyalo A, Teo YY, Holt KE, Kingsley RA, Dougan G. J. Typhoid in Kenya is associated with a dominant multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi haplotype that is also widespread in Southeast Asia. Clin Microbiol. 2010 Jun;48(6):2171-6.
•  Kiiru J, Saidi SM, Goddeeris BM, Wamae NC, Butaye P, Kariuki SM. Molecular characterisation of Vibrio cholerae O1 strains carrying an SXT/R391-like element from cholera outbreaks in Kenya: 1994-2007. BMC Microbiol. 2009 Dec 29;9:275.
• Kariuki S, Revathi G, Corkill J, Kiiru J, Mwituria J, Mirza N, Hart CA. Escherichia coli from community-acquired urinary tract infections resistant to fluoroquinolones and extended-spectrum beta-lactams. J Infect Dev Ctries. 2007 Dec 1;1(3):257-62.
•  Kariuki S and Kiiru J. Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli from Apparently Healthy Children in Kenya. APUA Newsletter. 2007 Vol. 25 No.1.
• Kariuki S, Revathi G, Kariuki N, Kiiru J, Mwituria J, Hart CA. Characterisation of community acquired non-typhoidal Salmonella from bacteraemia and diarrhoeal infections in children admitted to hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. BMC Microbiol. 2006 Dec 15;6:101.
• Kariuki S, Revathi G, Kiiru J, Lowe B, Berkley JA, Hart CA. Decreasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in non-typhoidal Salmonella isolated from children with bacteraemia in a rural district hospital, Kenya. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2006 Sep;28(3):166-71. Epub 2006 Aug 14.
•  Kariuki S, Revathi G, Kariuki N, Kiiru J, Mwituria J, Muyodi J, Githinji JW, Kagendo D, Munyalo A, Hart CA. Invasive multidrug-resistant non-typhoidal Salmonella infections in Africa: zoonotic or anthroponotic transmission? J Med Microbiol. 2006 May;55(Pt 5):585-91.