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Landmark Tuks study on heatwave-linked mortality in SA
South Africans 65 or older living in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg faced a “significant increase in mortality” from increased daily ambient apparent temperature...
Timeline to the stages of tuberculosis disease progression
University of Cape researchers have uncovered a sequence of biological processes that occur in humans infected with the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the infection...
Trial to tackle HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis deaths in Africa
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is to lead a major new clinical trial in southern and east Africa which aims to tackle...
SA adolescents full of conspiracy theories, ignorance, about HIV
Almost 30% of adolescents in Soweto, Johannesburg, believe the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a conspiracy. More than half were unsure of the virus's...
Rural life expectancy differences due to TB and violence
The gender differences in adult life expectancy in SA's rural KwaZulu-Natal are exceptionally large, atypical for an African population, and largely driven by high...
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...
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...
Self-testing improves uptake among sex workers
A year ago there was virtually no evidence on the acceptability and feasibility of HIV self-testing in female sex workers, but a series of...
School malaria prevention programmes dramatically cut infection
Schools that provide prevention education, insecticide-treated nets and antimalarial treatment, in regions where malaria is highly seasonal, could reduce the risk of schoolchildren developing...
Gunshot wounds place hefty burden on SA's orthopaedic healthcare resources
In 2012‚ Groote Schuur Hospital spent a total of R2.7m, excluding salaries, on the 111 patients it treated for orthopaedic gunshot wounds, found a Univeristy of...
SA med students failing to recognise childhood cancer's early warning signs
Final-year SA medical students remember only six of at least 20 early warning signs of childhood cancer, found a University of the Witwatersrand study....
New service initiatives needed for HIV-positive adolescents in SSA
Healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa are struggling to provide services for HIV-positive adolescents, found a multi-country situational analysis.
Facilities in 23 countries, which collectively provide...
Positive outcomes from drug addiction Tx and perinatal HIV prevention
An integrated programme offering medication-assisted drug addiction treatment and services aimed at preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission led to improved outcomes for opioid-dependent HIV-positive mothers...
Worms and low marks are bedfellows among kids – Eastern Cape study
Worms and low marks are bedfellows among primary school children‚ a study in the Eastern Cape by academics from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Basel...
Pretoria teaching hospital rife with paediatric medication errors
The incidence of medication errors in the neonatal intensive care unit and paediatric wards at a Pretoria teaching hospital was higher than values reported...
SA under-prepared for rising codeine addiction
Codeine addiction is on the rise in SA yet the country lacks people who are specifically trained to treat it, a SA Medical Research Council study has found,...
UCT researcher leads discovery of new anti-malaria drug candidate
A new paper describes the discovery and biological profiling of an exciting new anti-malarial clinical drug candidate, MMV390048, effective against resistant strains of the...
'Community justice' sjambokking and acute kidney injuries – UKZN study
The acute kidney injury risk stratification score using venous bicarbonate is valid and should continue to be used as a tool in the management...
Kenyan study lauds alternative uses for old mosquito nets
It’s time that alternative uses of old and worn out mosquito nets wasn’t interpreted as misuse but seen as an innovative way of using...
Fewer clinic visits improve retention in HIV care in Zambia
People with HIV who attended their clinic once every six months were much less likely to miss their next clinic visit, miss medication pick...
One in five people diagnosed with HIV not linking to care in Botswana
Almost one in five people newly diagnosed with HIV in a study employing active methods to link people to care and treatment had still...
SA scientists collaborate in 'sudden death' gene mutation discovery
19Researchers at the University of Cape Town, through global collaboration, have identified the genetic mutation that is a major cause of sudden death among...
Particular genetic variation in child makes intervention success 4x more likely
Genetic make-up can play a large, hidden role in the success of efforts to maximise a child's development, SA research shows. A new Stellenbosch University genetic analysis on...
Benefits of educating religious leaders on medical male circumcision
The education of religious leaders had a substantial effect on uptake of medical male circumcision and should be considered as part of such programmes...
Blood test predicts onset of tuberculosis in young children
Researchers from the Universities of Cape Town, Stanford, Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have shown that a blood test...
Rural head gunshot victims at a grave disadvantage – UKZN 5-year study
Cerebral gunshot victims from rural area admitted to the Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Trauma Service Centre took more than twice as long to present for treatment...
HIV risk-taking behaviour by older adults in SA
Older adults are sexually active and report risk behaviors that are consistent with HIV transmission, found a Mpumalanga, South Africa, study.
One of the most...
Certain genital bacterial communities increase HIV infection risk fourfold
The most common bacterial community in the genital tract of healthy South African women is associated with a more than four-fold increase in the...
Lay health workers dramatically improve anxiety and depression in Zimbabwe
Brief psychological treatment delivered by Zimbabwean lay health workers dramatically improved the symptoms of patients with mental health problems, according to research by the University...