South Africa ranks amongst the high-burden tuberculosis (TB), drug-resistant TB and HIV-co-infected TB countries, globally. However, over the past decade it has made significant progress in turning the tide by adopting the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended diagnostic technologies and therapies for both prevention and management to reduce the burden of the disease. In addition, […]
Turning the tide on TB Read More »
Mvuyo Makhasi, National Institute for Communicable Diseases; Cheryl Cohen, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and Sibongile Walaza, University of the Witwatersrand Respiratory diseases are highly infectious and cause a significant health burden. Disease surveillance is the bedrock of public health responses to outbreaks or epidemics caused by these diseases. Effective surveillance gives an indication of
Tracking symptoms of respiratory diseases online can give a picture of community health Read More »
1. Why should I get vaccinated if the vaccine already needs a booster shot to protect me? Are vaccines not effective? Vaccines have been shown in controlled trials and in the evaluation of national vaccination programmes (e.g. United Kingdom) to reduce severe disease and mortality by up to 95-97%. This lifesaving effect has continued, even
COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shot: Frequently Asked Questions Read More »
There are numerous social media posts with false information about enteric fever in South Africa that are attracting widespread attention and causing needless concern and panic at the moment. These posts allege either that there are currently cases of enteric fever in certain towns or provinces caused by contaminated municipal water, or that the bacteria
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, new knowledge regarding the nature of COVID-19 infection, greater appreciation of the costs associated with current practices, as well as rising vaccination rates and immunity to COVID-19 infection amongst South Africans, have necessitated substantial revision of recommendations regarding quarantine, isolation and contract tracing. Isolation for Asymptomatic COVID infection People with
Changes to COVID-19 quarantine, isolation and contact tracing (17 Feb 2022) Read More »
Background Enteric fever is a potentially life-threatening infection. It includes typhoid fever (caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi) and paratyphoid fever (caused by the bacterium Salmonella Paratyphi A, B and C). These bacteria only infect humans, and humans are the only reservoirs. Transmission of the infection is by the faecal-oral route (through ingesting food or
Alert: Update on enteric fever in South Africa (18 Feb 2022) Read More »
After South African scientists sounded the alarm about the new omicron variant, countries around the world closed their borders. Kim Ludbrook/EPA Gemma Ware, The Conversation and Daniel Merino, The Conversation What is it like to discover a new coronavirus variant? In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we hear the inside story from one
What would happen if all the mosquitoes in the world disappeared? Curious Kids is a series for children in which we ask experts to answer questions from kids. “Most people in the world absolutely hate mosquitoes. Personally, I don’t mind them – they don’t really bite me, so they do not bother me that much.
What would happen if all the mosquitoes in the world disappeared? Read More »
In South Africa, the burden of communicable diseases greatly threatens the health sector, as recently demonstrated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that placed tremendous pressure on healthcare workers and the sector alike. For this reason, non-pharmaceutical interventions have been, and continue to be our best defence against communicable diseases. Adopting certain behaviour, for instance, healthy hand
The importance of non-pharmaceutical interventions Read More »
Despite South Africa entering its peak malaria season, many malaria cases are being misdiagnosed as COVID-19. Both malaria and COVID-19 have similar non-specific early symptoms including fever, chills, headaches, fatigue and muscle pain. Undiagnosed and untreated malaria rapidly progresses to severe illness, with a potentially fatal outcome. Any individual presenting with fever or ‘flu-like illness,
Malaria Alert (24 Jan 2022) Read More »
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The Public Health Bulletin South Africa (PHBSA) website is hosted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH), divisions of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). The PHBSA website is funded jointly by the NICD, the US CDC Foundation, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative.
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