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07 January 2018 Photo Charl Devenish
Researcher tackling drug-resistant TB through molecular methods
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.

News Archive

Sought-after fellowship for Deaf Kovsie academic
2012-04-25

 

Magteld Smith
Photo: Provided
25 April 2012

For a Deaf person to achieve academic excellence in a sound-dominated world is extremely challenging, but Ms Magteld Smith sees each challenge as another opportunity.

Ms Smith, a Medical Social Researcher at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently received the Herbert H Humphrey fellowship. She is one of only two South Africans to receive this fellowship.
 
The Humphrey Fellowship Program provides mid-career professionals from designated countries around the world with an opportunity to enhance their professional capabilities through participation and is developed specifically for small clusters of Humphrey Fellows at 18 selected US universities.
 
It was initiated in 1978 to honour the memory and accomplishments of the former Senator and Vice-President, Humbert H. Humphrey. Fellows are selected based on their potential for national leadership and commitment to public service, in either the public or private sector. The programme provides a basis for establishing long-lasting productive partnerships and relationships between citizens of the United States and their professional counterparts in other countries, fostering an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world.
 
Ms Smith applied for this fellowship, but was still very surprised when she heard her application was successful.
 
“Upon receiving the news, in my mind I saw an enormous rotating world globe and I asked my Heavenly Father, "What is happening now?" I saw big libraries with books, laboratories, state of the art technology for people with hearing impairments, big cars, big houses, big trucks, big farmers, big women and the White House with big trouble. Furthermore, I saw how the UFS became the world leader of academic excellence and change for people with disabilities with high technology manufacturing and rehabilitation programmes.”
 
Ms Smith says Prof. Jonathan Jansen, UFS Vice-Chancellor and Rector, is a great asset, because for the first time people with disabilities are high on the priority list.

 

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