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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.
Lira and Karen Zoid rock Kovsie Stage Extravaganza
2013-09-23
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Joined on stage by some of Kovsies’ most talented students, award-winning artists dazzle Bloemfontein audience with show-stopping performances.
23 September 2013
Photos: Johan Roux |
It was a proper party at this year’s Kovsie Stage Extravaganza, with red-hot performances by two of South Africa’s most celebrated artists.
Singers Lira and Karen Zoid had the audience in the Callie Human Centre at the Bloemfontein Campus on their feet with some of their greatest hits. With the artists on stage,were some of Kovsies’ most talented students, who hold their own among the two music stars.
Lira, a ten-time SAMA prize-winner, showed why she performed at US President Barack Obama's inauguration ball earlier this year. She had the audience eating from her hand with songs from her own albums, as well as from other artists. Between songs, she also offered advice to students and encouraged them to make their mark in life. "The knowledge you acquire here, will open doors for you," she told students, before singing favourite songs likeSomething inside so Strong, Rise Again and Ixesha.
Zoid, also a SAMA prize-winner, enchanted the audience with favourites like Afrikaners is Plesierig and Small world. Things heated up when she did a cover version of Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonanga with Kovsie students joining her on stage. She gave R200 to one lucky student to take his girlfriend for coffee later on.