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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.
Wayde one of the Adidas faces for Rio 2016
2015-11-20
Wayde van Niekerk has not only been nominated for two awards at the SA Sports Awards. He will also be one of the Adidas world ambassadors for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: Johan Roux |
Wayde van Niekerk’s face may already adorn billboards at Pellies Park on the Bloemfontein Campus and other places around the University of the Free State, but it will now also be used for marketing campaigns worldwide.
The Kovsie athlete will be one of the Adidas world ambassadors for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Adidas is sponsoring him.
According to a modest Van Niekerk, he has been with the clothing sponsor since 2010, and it is a great honour to be an ambassador for the Olympics in Rio
Other awards
After a dream year, being an Adidas ambassador is the latest honour to come his way.
He was also nominated for two awards in the SA Sports Awards, which will be held in the Sand du Plessis Theatre in Bloemfontein on Sunday 22 November 2015. He was nominated as Sportsman of the Year and in the People’s Choice category.
On 21 October 2015, Van Niekerk was named KovsieSport’s Sportsman of the Year for a third consecutive year.
He was recently also honoured at the Free State Schools Athletics Association’s Gold Medal event.
A world superstar
Van Niekerk says it’s good to be part of the legacy Adidas is building as a company.
“It is exciting for me, knowing that I am selected among such great athletes (being an Adidas ambassador), and not just South African athletes, but world athletes,” he says.
“It is the likes of the top Adidas athletes that are going to represent the company and be ambassadors for the company.”
“It is something I am looking forward to – being on posters and seeing my face on billboards and advertisements.”