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Infectious Diseases
SA's listeriosis outbreak 'the worst in global history'
In the past month‚ another 167 people have contracted deadly listeriosis‚ bringing the total number of confirmed cases in South Africa to 717. And,...
Scarlet fever making an unexpected and puzzling comeback
England is experiencing an unprecedented rise in scarlet fever with the highest incidence for nearly 50 years, according to a study in The Lancet. ...
NSAIDs inferior to antibiotics in treating UTIs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were found to be inferior to antibiotics for symptom relief of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI), according to findings from...
Preventing malaria infections the old-fashioned way
Seasonal malaria chemo-prevention is saving thousands of children in West Africa, according to studies presented this week at the American Society of Tropical Medicine...
Maternal vaccination to prevent GBS cases
An estimated one in five pregnant women around the world carry Group B Streptococcus (GBS) bacteria which is a major, yet preventable, cause of...
Abandoned gonorrhoea treatments may again be effective
A previously recommended treatment for gonorrhoea, cefixime, may be an effective alternative to current treatments as clinicians battle outbreaks and emergence of antimicrobial resistance...
CPA evaluated as an alternative diagnosis of smear-negative TB
Patients suspected of having tuberculosis (TB) may generate no sputum, and have smear and/or GeneXpert negative samples, and yet be ill. Only 20–40% of...
Preventing new TB cases by treating household members
Treating members of a household known to be infected with tuberculosis could prevent more new cases than screening and treating the community at large,...
SA begins roll-out of improved GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra
The roll-out of the GeneXpert Ultra has started. With its increased sensitivity and capacity to more accurately identify rifampicin resistance, it is expected to improve...
People cured of hep C with DAAs have improved health quality of life
People who were cured of hepatitis C with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) had sustained improvements in their health-related quality of life, including both physical and...
Ebola vaccine tested on adults and children in Africa
Data confirms the acceptable safety and immunogenicity profile of the rVSV-ΔGP-ZEBOV Eboal virus in adults and support consideration of lower doses for paediatric populations,...
Clofazimine protects against TB in brain and central nervous system
A recently published paper has highlighted the potential of clofazimine to protect the brain and central nervous system against extra-pulmonary TB, according to one...
Simple oral swab test could revolutionise TB detection in children
At the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health, a diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) has been presented that is simple, potentially ground-breaking, yet...
New rapid molecular test detects MDR-TB mutations
A new rapid molecular test has shown the ability to detect, with reasonable certainty, mutations associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), an international team of...
Anti-TB drug should be given to children, study says
An innovative anti-tuberculosis drug that represents a reprieve for adults whose disease does not respond to other treatments should also be made available to...
BCG protects against TB for longer than previously thought
Previously thought to be effective for 10-15 years, a new case-control study found that if given in early teenage years (12-13), the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin...
New hyper-resistant superbug poses significant threat
The Partner State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences at the department of applied biology and chemical technology (ABCT) of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has...
Childhood cancer survivors not getting HPV vaccinations
Childhood cancer survivors in the US are much less likely to have had human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations compared to their peers, despite being at...
Moxifloxacin may be superior to two other fluoroquinolones in TB
Using computer simulations, US scientists have shown that the fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin may be superior to two other commonly used fluoroquinolones, in the treatment of...
Cape Town med students at high risk of contracting TB
Undergraduate medical students in Cape Town are at high risk of occupationally acquired tuberculosis (TB), with an unmet need for comprehensive occupational health services...
Rapid test to check antibiotic efficacy against urinary-tract bacteria
Researchers at Uppsala University have developed a new method for rapidly determining whether urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are resistant or susceptible to antibiotics.
Antibiotic resistance...
HEV re-emerging as a zoonotic virus also afflicting the affluent
Hepatitis E (HEV) is shifting from being a disease of the poor to one that can affect affluent people in developed world settings, with HEV...
Most difficult C. difficile cases becoming more common
A US study has found evidence that the most difficult C. difficile intestinal infection cases, known as multiple recurring C. difficile infections (mrCDI), are...
Meningitis vaccine may cut risk of untreatable gonorrhoea
Hopes to fight untreatable strains of gonorrhoea have risen after it emerged that a new vaccine against meningitis unexpectedly reduced the risk of people...
New diagnostic tools and treatments critically needed for TBM
A randomised trial of clinical outcomes for patients with drug-resistant tuberculous meningitis (TBM) underscores that new diagnostic tools and treatments for the disease are...
Study suggests sepsis guidelines save lives
For every hour that clinicians failed to complete the anti-sepsis protocols, known as the 'three-hour bundle' mortality rates climb by between 3% and 4%, found a...
Tenofovir reduces mother-to-child transmission of HBV
Administering tenofovir to pregnant women with a hepatitis B virus (HBV) high viral load during the 2nd or 3rd trimester reduced rates of mother-to-child...
Antibiotics not working in 22% patients with community-acquired pneumonia
Approximately one in four (22.1%) adults prescribed an antibiotic in an outpatient setting for community-acquired pneumonia does not respond to treatment, according to a...
CDC recommendation on Vaxchora for adult travel
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Vaxchora, the only vaccine available in the US for active immunisation against cholera, for...
CDC modelling study sounds warning on TB in SA
South Africa, along with India, Russia and the Philippines, will over the next two decades face dramatically rising rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), according...
Ant-vax movement gains traction by targeting vulnerable groups
Anti-vaccine groups are targeting specific vulnerable communities, reports The Washington Post. In one Somali community in Minnesota, the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) among immigrant...
Cystitis mostly caused by bacterial infection, even when tests are negative
Almost all women with typical urinary complaints and a negative culture nevertheless do have an infection with E. coli, found a University of Ghent...
Triple drug combination cures most hepatitis C patients
Almost all people with genotype 1 hepatitis C who were previously unsuccessfully treated with a course of interferon-free direct-acting antiviral therapy achieved sustained response...
Hep B drugs' switch delivers improved kidney function
People with hepatitis B who switched from the old tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to the new tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) saw improvements in kidney function...
Vitamin C's effect on colds and pneumonia
A University of Helsinki meta-analysis identifies two controlled trials found a statistically significant vitamin C dose–response for the duration of common cold symptoms. Five...
World TB Day – Launch of online TB Surveillance Dashboard
South Africa has the highest estimated tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate amongst the 22 high burden countries globally, with 834 new TB cases per 100,000...
World TB Day – Simple tests to diagnose TB
A study published by researchers from the University of Cape Town shows that among hospitalised patients with HIV infection, a simple and inexpensive urine...
World TB Day – Risk of TB higher for diabetics
HIV is known to fuel tuberculosis (TB), but the lesser-known threat of diabetes actually places people at greater risk of getting sick with TB....
Birth outcomes not affected by flu vaccine in any trimester
Birth outcomes, specifically birth weight and weeks' gestation of the infant at birth, are not affected by the influenza vaccine during any trimester of...
Evidence of durable protection from attenuated malaria virus vaccine
An attenuated malaria virus vaccine has offered the first evidence of durable protection against multiple heterozygous infections within the same host, according to results...