Many African countries are experienced in managing outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers and many of the lessons learnt from the Ebola can be applied to the Marburg outbreak.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
National Institute for Communicable Diseases
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is the national public health insitute for South Africa. It provides reference microbiology,virology,epidemiology, surveillance and public health research to support the government’s response to communicable disease threats.
The NICD is organised into functional Centres, bringing together expertise in both reference microbiology and epidemiology to enable an intergrated public health response to communicable disease threats.
The NICD primarily supports the programmes of the National and Provincial Departments of Health. As well as national support, the NICD also provides public health services such as collaborating laboratory or regional reference laboratory functions for global programmes of the World Health Organisation (WHO)
The NICD has established co-operatives agreements with partner national public health institutions such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and NIH/NIAID of the USA, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) of the United Kingdom, as well as other internationally recognised public health insitutions.
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Communities with high vaccine coverage rates are likely to see lower case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths related to COVID-19 compared to those with poor vaccine coverage.
We are being cautious about the implications for vaccine efficacy and transmissibility while we gather more data to understand this lineage.
Outbreaks of polio have become a thing of the past, told to us by our grandparents, only because of vaccination.
Mosquitoes are among the deadliest animals in the world. Half of the deaths attributed to them are associated with malaria. But they carry other parasites and viruses that threaten human health.
Schools are not driving the COVID-19 pandemic and can safely remain open provided people stick to the non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19 prevention.
Each province and district in South Africa has allocated persons responsible for investigating adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.
The virus is always present in nature and when circumstances allow, it may jump from one species to another.
Southern African Development Community countries are very connected. Highly mobile and migrant populations frequently cross borders, posing significant challenges to reaching a malaria-free region.
Digital participatory surveillance allows the community to share in the responsibility of disease surveillance and contribute to the control and prevention of respiratory disease outbreaks.
On this continent, a child dies from malaria every two minutes. This is an unacceptable reality for a treatable and preventable disease.
The biggest lesson has been that controlling a disease outbreak like Ebola is impossible without community trust and engagement.
Now is not the time to ease up the prevention effort, or decades of progress could be undone.
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The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is incredibly difficult to manage.
When it comes to flu, information can range from confusion about what it actually is, to speculation about how it’s transmitted.
Borders are porous between North Kivu province of the DRC and neighbouring countries, so the potential for spread is highly likely.
Researchers are only beginning to understand the impact of pollution and increased temperatures on the biology of mosquitoes.
The flood waters caused by Cyclone Idai have receded. But in some ways, the problems for many of the countries affected, are just beginning.
The current Ebola outbreak in the DRC is devastating vulnerable communities already affected by displacement and violence.
TB outside the lungs accounted for 14% of TB cases recorded globally in 2017.
Authors
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Senior Pathologist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Co-head of the Centre for Respiratory Disease and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Senior Medical Scientist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Senior medical epidemiologist, Centre for Tuberculosis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Epidemiologist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Principal Medical Scientist at National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Medical Epidemiologist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Head: Centre for Enteric Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Epidemiologist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Medical epidemiologist: Centre for Enteric Diseases,, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Data Manager, Center for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Principal Pathologist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Medical scientist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
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Senior scientist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases
