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Infectious Diseases
Stellenbosch has role in developing simple blood test to predict TB development
Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers are part of an international consortium that developed a simple blood test that can predict the development of tuberculosis (TB)...
Kidney dysfunction contributes to severe malaria
Understanding the most severe presentations of malaria is key to lowering the mortality associated with the infectious disease, which currently stands around 500,000 deaths...
Majority of hepatitis B cases remain undiagnosed and untreated
About 300m people worldwide are living with hepatitis B, yet the majority of cases remain undiagnosed or untreated – The Guardian reports that a...
Fresh strategies needed to rein in excessive antibiotic use
A dramatic rise in global antibiotic consumption has led public health experts to call for fresh strategies to rein in excessive use of the...
Listeria outbreak prompts improvements in SA food safety standards
The huge and deadly outbreak of listeria in South Africa could alter the country’s approach to food-borne disease and prompt improvements in food safety...
Regimen change may halve cryptococcal meningitis deaths
The Advancing Cryptococcal Treatment for Africa (ACTA) Trial shows relatively simple regimen changes can cut mortality rates in the region of 70% to 25-30%....
Young rural SA women more vulnerable to STIs than young men
Young women in rural SA were more than twice as likely as young men to be infected with chlamydia and nearly twice as likely...
Motsoaledi backs class action over listeriosis outbreak
Victims of the world's worst listeriosis outbreak, which has killed at least 183 people, are being invited to join a class action — supported...
Adverse pregnancy outcomes with Isoniazid Preventive Therapy in HIV
Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) for tuberculosis in pregnant women with HIV was associated with excess adverse pregnancy outcomes and may warrant a re-assessment of...
Innovative 'invisible ink' successfully detects TB
University of Witwatersrand scientists and international researchers have pioneered an innovative process to detect TB bacteria by adding a molecule to the bacteria’s own...
First evidence of what most attracts the mosquitos that carry dengue and chikungunya
The first evidence from a University of Nairobi study of how chemical compounds found in body odour can be used to develop effective mosquito...
Dolutegravir at 50mg twice daily is safe and effective in patients on TB treatment
Data presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2018) in Boston from the 24-week interim analysis of the INSPIRING clinical trial...
Meta-analysis of STI prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa
Prevalence of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs)– chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis – among women aged 15 to 24 exceeds that of older women...
First diagnostic test for candidemia cleared by FDA
A new blood test seems to perform as well as, if not better than, traditional blood cultures at detecting the candidemia infection that commonly...
New drug combo successfully treats DR-TB
Research by the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides strong evidence that a combination of two new drugs for...
Low immunisation rates fuels spread of measles in Europe
Cases of life-threatening measles have tripled in Europe because of a continent-wide outbreak, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has warned. Low...
Flu vaccine information updated
The Acute Respiratory Infections Group team of the Cochrane Reviews has updated the latest evidence on influenza vaccines.
Three Cochrane Reviews led by Vittorio Demicheli,...
Newest, untreatable malaria strain alarms experts
The outbreak in Cambodia, then Thailand, Laos and most recently Vietnam, of malaria that is untreatable with the newest and best drugs we have...
How the sushi boom is fuelling tapeworm infections
Reports this week that a US man's sushi habit ended with a hospital trip with an almost two-metre tapeworm, has sparked much revulsion and...
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...