Author name: Pii Digital

14 November 2011 An outbreak of meningococcal disease is ongoing in the community of Olievenhoutbosch, Gauteng Province. As of 14 November 2011, 12 cases have been linked to this outbreak, which was first confined to two crèches, but now may be spreading in the wider community. All specimens/isolates tested to date have been identified as

The UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a political declaration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on 20 September 2011. Among a long list of actions on curbing the global epidemic of NCDs, the heads of state call upon the private sector "to promote and create an enabling environment for healthy behaviours among workers, including by establishing

02 November 2011  Prof Janusz T Paweska (left), head of the NICD's Special Pathogens Unit, was awarded a prestigious statuette of Sapere Auso from the University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland, which is conferred once a year upon an outstanding alumnus whose professional achievements and position contribute greatly to the promotion of the

24 October 2011 Pretoria – A Gauteng child has been paralysed as a result of a rare complication from polio vaccination, said the Department of Health. In a statement on Sunday, the department said to ensure that the country remained free of polio, it would oversee a monitoring programme to ensure that any case of

17 October 2011   A cluster of patients with colonisation and/or infection with highly-resistant bacteria producing the enzyme NDM-1 were recently identified in a Gauteng Province hospital. Most of the patients had underlying conditions that would place them at greater risk of acquiring these organisms and had been hospitalised for an extended period. Two of

 While rabies is a deadly disease, it is preventable and people should not be dying of it, rabies experts said on World Rabies Day on Wednesday. Experts on the disease met on World Rabies Day to discuss and share information on rabies control, prevention and treatment programmes. The meeting was organised by the Department of

The 28th September marks World Rabies Day. The aim of World Rabies Day is to bring about awareness of rabies in humans and animals and to provide information on how to prevent disease.   Rabies is a fatal disease in humans and animals and there is no treatment. Once humans develop symptoms of rabies, death

13 September 2011 Two years ago, the AIDS community was electrified by news that a vaccine had partially protected people against HIV. Now this vaccine will be tested in South Africa. This is according to scientists attending the International AIDS Vaccine conference, which opened yesterday (Monday) in Bangkok. South Africa will be the first country