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Introduction The World Head Injury Awareness Day falls on March 20th every year and it looks at the number of people who suffer from a mild bump on their head to severe brain injury. The purpose of this day is to remind us on how we could reduce accidents and brain injuries if we are […]

HEALTH NEWS Black women at greater risk of cervical cancer Black women in South Africa are at a greater risk of contracting cervical cancer, a disease that kills 3 000 every year. Professor Harald zur Hausen, 2008 Nobel Laureate and the man credited for identifying the link between human papillomaviruses (HPV) and cervical cancer, will

  There is a viral meningitis outbreak in the Nelspruit area, says the Mpumalanga health department. A total of 15 patients, including children, had tested positive for the virus, spokesman Mpho Gabashane said on Wednesday. He said the department was alerted by MediClinic, two weeks ago, after 10 patients had been screened. Only five of

Spotlight on World Cancer Day 2011   World Cancer Day is marked on 4 February to raise awareness of the global impact of cancer and increase understanding of prevention, detection, treatment and care.  Key Facts:   Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide: it accounted for 7.4 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths)

From left: Adv Sesi Baloyi, Mr Sagie Pillay, Prof Barry Schoub and Prof Adrian Puren Staff and retired staff from the NHLS, representatives from the Department of Health and academic institutions packed the NICD’s PRF auditorium to capacity on the 21st January 2011, to bid farewell and pay homage to NICD executive director Prof Barry Schoub

NICD Special Communique-January 2011    Three new laboratory-confirmed human cases of Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus infection have been identi­fied. All three cases are farmers/farm workers who had direct contact with animal tissues and body fluids when slaughtering/skinning livestock during late January 2011. All three cases presented with flu-like illness to their local healthcare prac­titioners.

Hospital-acquired infections are an issue of increasing concern in South Africa and throughout the world. The ability of the NHLS to contribute to the control of such infections received a boost recently with the launch of the Unit for Molecular Epidemiology at the NHLS laboratory at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. The unit is a

The annual Magnet IDEAL Employer award ceremony, which took place on Thursday, 2 December 2010 at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, saw rank outsider National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) voted into third position by South Africa’s science students.  “This is an extraordinary achievement in anybody’s book,” says Peter Johannson, MD of Magnet Communications, the company

 A two-year-old Johannesburg child was recently confirmed to have died of rabies after being scratched by an unvaccinated domestic puppy. The disease was also confirmed in 11 dogs in the greater Johannesburg area as of 3 October, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). Dr Pete Vincent of the Netcare Travel Clinics and