Research Africa
TB clusters show where HIV treatment is missing in South Africa
September 4th, 2019 Clusters of new cases of tuberculosis (TB) provide strong evidence of areas that need to be prioritised for improved antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage, and improved ART coverage is associated with a reduction in new TB cases, according to...
AI application to predict and diagnose life-threatening diseases
August 21st, 2019 A team of scientists from the University of Johannesburg (UJ), collaborating across theoretical and experimental physics and computer science, have developed and trained a new Machine Learning technique, to predict and diagnose diseases such as lung...
Study in KZN community gives policy pointers for fight against TB
August 14th, 2019 A study from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation & Sequencing Platform (KRISP) and the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) provides evidence that scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage...
Hepatitis E in pig-derived food products in Cape Town
August 7th, 2019 Hepatitis E virus (HEV) can be found in pork-containing meat products available for sale in Cape Town, found a study in the SA Medical Journal, with the authors warning that meat of pig origin should be thoroughly cooked before being...
Point-of-care technology for early infant HIV diagnosis
May 15th, 2019 Point-of-care testing for early infant HIV diagnosis is highly effective in reducing turnaround time for HIV test results, enabling earlier antiretroviral treatment initiation in infants in sub-Saharan Africa. An observational study by Flavia...
Age and education effects on cognitive functioning in Coloured women
April 24th, 2019 Coloured women in SA have an increased risk for low cognitive functioning, as they present with low education levels and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, due to a historically broken education system. Professor Elmarie Terblanche, of...
Do we need youth-friendly TB clinics?
March 27th, 2019 Tuberculosis treatment programmes in Cape Town, South Africa, do not currently distinguish between adolescent and adult TB patients, and in so doing, may miss opportunities for improving the treatment outcomes of young people with TB. According to a...
Ground-breaking research facility samples TB from breathed air
March 13th, 2019 Part of the research at the University of Cape Town's new new Aerobiology TB Research Facility involves measuring the amount of air individuals exchange, which may range from about 300 litres per day between children and adolescents, to...
Lactose-free/reduced-carb formula does not help severely malnourished children
March 6th, 2019 Treating hospitalised, severely malnourished children with a lactose-free, reduced-carbohydrate milk formula does not improve clinical outcomes, according to a multi-centre, double-blind trial in Kenya and Malawi. The study by Robert Bandsma of...
Combining HIV and schistosomiasis programmes
January 23rd, 2019 Testing and treatment programmes for HIV and schistosomiasis (also known as snail fever or bilharzia) could be profitably combined in settings with a high prevalence of both infections, results of a study led by Kristin M Wall at the Rwanda Zambia...
85% of Cameroonian respondents eat bush meat
January 9th, 2019 A French study found that some 85% of questionnaire respondents in Cameroon had eaten primate meat, with the exposure risk to zoonotic disease in any given village directly related to the relative density of non-human primates and their proximity to...
Novel SA technique in hydrocephalus assessment
November 21st, 2018 A novel SA technique not only improves the accuracy of ultrasound in assessing hydrocephalus, by analysing the dynamic properties of the back of the eye as a marker of pressure in the brain, but simplifies the process so it can be performed at a...
A silent crisis: Hearing outcomes in children with meningitis
November 14th, 2018 Less than a quarter of children diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital over an 18-month period were referred to audiology, possibly indicating a lack of awareness on the part of doctors. The Times...
High cancer risk in Gauteng from OCP residues in fish
October 31st, 2018 Organochlorine pesticides (OCP) residues in catfish along the Klip River in Gauteng pose an extremely high risk to human health when consumed, with a cancer risk as high as 1 in 10, according to a study by researchers at North-West University,...
Researchers give official Life Esidimeni death toll
October 10th, 2018 A study has determined the official death toll of the Life Esidimeni scandal is 131. The mortality rate among 1,442 mentally ill patients transferred out of hospitals in Gauteng in a cost-saving move was eight times the national average in...