Jørgen Kurtzhals
Jørgen Kurtzhals

Centre for Medical Parasitology
Department of Clinical Microbiology 7602
Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet)
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø

E-mail: 
Phone: +45 3545 7787
Fax: +45 3545 6831

Professional Qualifications

MD

Diploma in Tropical Medicine and International Health

Ph.D. in health sciences

Specialist in Clinical Microbiology

Current Positions

Consultant, Head of Parasitology, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet)

Professor, Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen.

Professor, Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen.

Main Research Areas

  • Malaria pathogenesis and immuno-pathology
    • Causes of neurological dysfunction in cerebral malaria
    • Causes of bone marrow suppression in malaria
  • Experimental malaria models
  • Experimental treatment of malaria
    • Neuroprotection
    • Haematological growth factors
  • Clinical trials of anti-malarial drugs
    • Efficacy and safety studies of anti-malarial drugs
  • Novel diagnostic techniques (malaria and other parasites)

Teaching and supervision

Pre- and postgraduate teaching in clinical microbiology, parasitology and international health. Supervision of masters and PhD students at University of Copenhagen and University of Ghana.

Selected publications

121 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Book chapters, popular publications, and epidemiological reports.

  1. Kurtzhals JAL, Hey AS, Jardim A, Kemp M, Schaefer K-U, Odera EO, Christensen CBV, Githure JI, Olafson RW, Theander TG & Kharazmi A. Dichotomy of the human T-cell response to Leishmania antigens. II. Absent or TH2-like response to gp63 and TH1-like response to lipophosphoglycan-associated protein in cells from cured visceral leishmaniasis patients. Clin Exp Immunol 1994; 96: 416-421.
  2. Kurtzhals JAL, Rodrigues O, Addae M, Commey JOO, Nkrumah FK & Hviid L. Reversible suppression of bone marrow response to erythropoietin in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Br J Haematol 1997; 97: 169-174.
  3. Kurtzhals JAL, Adabayeri V, Goka BQ, Akanmori BD, Oliver-commey JO, Nkrumah FK, Behr C & Hviid L. Low plasma concentrations of interleukin 10 in severe malarial anaemia compared with cerebral and uncomplicated malaria. Lancet 1998; 351: 1768-1772.
  4. Adjei GO, Kristensen K, Goka BQ, Høgberg LCG, Alifrangis M, Rodrigues OP & Kurtzhals JAL. Effect of concomitant artesunate administration and CYP2C8 polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of amodiaquine in Ghanaian children with uncomplicated malaria. Antimicrobial Agents Chemother 2008; 52: 4400-4406.
  5. Hempel C, Combes V, Hunt NH, Kurtzhals JAL, Grau GER. CNS hypoxia is more pronounced in murine cerebral than non-cerebral malaria and reversed by erythropoietin. Am J Pathol 2011; 179: 1939-1950.
  6. Maretty L, Sharp RE, Andersson M, & Kurtzhals JAL. Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose accelerates erythropoietic recovery from experimental malarial anaemia. J Infect Dis 2012; 205: 1173-77.
  7. Hempel C, Hyttel P, Staalsø T, Nyengaard JR & Kurtzhals JAL. Erythropoietin treatment alleviates ultrastructural myelin changes induced by murine cerebral malaria. Malaria J 2012; 11: 216.
  8. Adjei GO, Goka BQ, Kitcher E, Rodrigues OP, Badoe E & Kurtzhals JAL. Reversible audiometric threshold changes in children with uncomplicated malaria. J Trop Med 2013: 360540.
  9. Rostved AA, Sassi M, Kurtzhals JAL, Sørensen SS, Rasmussen A, Ross C, Gogineni E, Huber C, Kutty G, Kovacs JA & Helweg-Larsen J. Outbreak of Pneumocystis pneumonia in renal and liver transplant patients caused by genotypically distinct strains of Pneumocystis jirovecii. Transplantation 2013; 96:834-842
  10. Hempel C, Hyttel P & Kurtzhals JAL. Endothelial glycocalyx on brain endothelial cells is lost in experimental cerebral malaria. J Cerebral Blood Flow Metab 2014; 34:1107-10