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07 January 2018
Photo Charl Devenish
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.
Kovsie one of the newcomers in the Springbok Rugby team
2008-10-29
Five Kovsies are included in the Springbok Rugby team that will leave for the rugby tour to England this week. One of the newcomers in the team, Heinrich Brüssow (photo), is a fourth-year B.Com. student in Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS).
The other four players are former students of the UFS. They are: Juan Smith, Bismarck du Plessis, Gürthro Steenkamp, Ruan Pienaar and CJ van der Linde. Brüssow is flank of the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs and also played for the Shimlas – the UFS’s first rugby team.
“It seems that the UFS is continuously producing national rugby players for South Africa. This is something to be proud of and is an indication of the standard of our coaching,” says Mr James Letuka, Director of KovsieSport.
“We wish all the Kovsies and the rest of the team good luck with the coming tour,” says Mr Letuka
Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
29 October 2008