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07 January 2018
Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk is invested in contributing
to the global effort of stopping TB by 2035.
The work of Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk investigates the spread of TB in the Free State population using techniques such as next generation sequencing, spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR typing. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk, a senior medical scientist in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of the Free State (UFS) also looks at drug resistance in her research. This work informs decisions about how best to treat patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
She employs rapid molecular techniques to track one of Africa’s most serious diseases, tuberculosis (TB).
Drug resistance
Scientists assist the National Health Laboratory Service and Department of Health in trying to refine the diagnostic tools to identify these cases earlier. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk explains: “Until recently, it took up to two years to fine-tune treatment decisions for patients with MDR-TB. Patients get a cocktail of anti-TB drugs, but it takes time to find the right combination. Re-infection and relapse (patients stopping treatment for several reasons) add to the diagnostic and treatment management challenges.
Enormous impact
“Now doctors can reduce the time needed for diagnostic certainty to about seven days, while new drugs allow reduction of treatment from more than 18 to nine months. This can have an enormous impact on the life of many patients.”
Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk’s work forms part of research in the faculty looking at resistance development in TB strains. She is currently also doing her doctoral thesis on the differences and incidence of MDR-TB among adolescents versus adults. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says: “It is a complicated picture, but we hope to unravel it to support better diagnostic tools and patient care.”
As part of the National Health Laboratory Service, her department is playing an important role in TB diagnostics and the training of scientists and future pathologists. “Our work is contributing to the global vision to stop TB by 2035,” Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says.
UFS leads research development workshop in Washington
2008-10-22
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Dr Aldo Stroebel, Vice-President of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA) and Head of Internationalisation at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently chaired a workshop by invitation to internationalise research at new and emerging universities during the Society for Research Administrators’ (SRA) annual conference in Washington DC, United States of America. Prof. Frans Swanepoel, Director: Research Development at the UFS, presented the lead paper. In addition, Ms Dineo Gaofhiwe and Ms Lise Kriel from the UFS also participated in the workshop. Other international participants included representatives from the Association for Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the University of Washington in Seattle. The session was co-funded by the ACU, the Department of Science and Technology in South Africa, the UFS, and SARIMA. Here are, from the left: Dr Stroebel, Dr John Kirkland, ACU, Ms Kriel, Dr Hiram Larew (USDA), Mr Lawrie Robertson, University of Washington, Ms Gaofhiwe, and Prof. Swanepoel.
Photo: Supplied
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