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25 May 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Showing support for healthcare workers on the frontlines by wearing crazy shocks.
If the COVID-19 pandemic were a war, the brave healthcare workers protecting the rest of the people against this lethal and invisible enemy would have been in the firing line. The heroes battling this deadly foe in the form of a never-foreseen viral pandemic, are under immense stress and pressure, and might in extreme cases also be at risk of burnout and trauma. 

Raising awareness around depression, other related diseases
It is for this reason that the Ithemba Foundation, a non-profit organisation with two public-benefit goals, namely to raise awareness around depression and other related diseases such as anxiety as clinical, biological diseases, and to support research, organised the #Care4OurCarers for this year’s #CrazySocks4Docs (CS4D) Day on Friday 29 May. Ithemba means ‘hope’ in isiXhosa – the message being that if depression is the illness of despair, hang on to hope. 

Dr Marita van Schalkwyk, Ithemba Director, says: “As health workers we must undertake to serve the sick and needy, but we must also look out for one another, help one another, inspire one another, and seek help when we ourselves cannot keep up the demanding pace. There is always hope – the meaning of ithemba.”

Supporting healthcare professionals 
According to Dr Van Schalkwyk, healthcare professionals need support now, more than ever, and people need to show it in a visual way. “We are therefore requesting the public to wear funky mismatched socks on Friday 29 May to show that we care for our carers. This includes everyone in the health professions, also academic and administrative staff on our medical campuses, as well as our future caregivers – our medical students. We know that they are also suffering immensely from anxiety and fear, and despite this, are still volunteering to work as extras in the fight against Covid-19,” she says.

“It is clear: we as the public must show we #Care4OurCarers and that between us and a deadly virus, they are the ones fighting in the front lines and putting their lives at risk. We hope that the South African public will show how much we value our health workers. And fortunately, all of us have a number of despondent socks in our drawers that will just be too happy to find a mate on 29 May to highlight the importance of the 2020 #CS4D Day together with us, their wearers. Even if we sit behind our desks in home-office style, you can post your sock selfie on www.facebook.com/IthembaFoundation1 to show that you care – let’s use this opportunity to say a BIG thank you to all our health workers.”

The risk of burnout
Dr Lynette van der Merwe, undergraduate medical programme director, School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), says healthcare practitioners and Health Sciences students have always been at risk of burnout and mental-health problems due to various demands,  such as academic workload, emotional and physical challenges, or meeting regulatory standards.

“Dealing with the global COVID-19 pandemic and its associated uncertainties asks more from all of us, not least those on the front lines (or training to be there soon).  Add to that the challenge of dealing with COVID-19, and suddenly we are even more convinced of our need for resilience; bouncing back, growing stronger from failure, staying positive in hard times.” 

“From research in the Faculty of Health Sciences on resilience, burnout, and coping, we have seen that in spite of high levels of stress (whether personal, academic or work-related), adaptive coping strategies were associated with increased resilience and decreased burnout,” says Dr Van der Merwe.

The importance of healthcare professionals
Angie Vorster, Clinical Psychologist in the School of Clinical Medicine, says this year the world has been reminded of the immense importance healthcare professionals play in society. 

“Perhaps in 2020, more than any year before, we are called to thank and celebrate and protect our doctors. In my position as the clinical psychologist for around 800 undergraduate medical students, I continue to be humbled and in awe of the immense dedication to serving others that medical students display.” 

“Medical studies are immensely stressful and demand a great deal of sacrifice – not only in terms of finances, time, hard work, studies, and clinical work – but becoming a medical doctor also requires all medical students to be exposed to physical and psychological threats and stressors. This is an unavoidable part of working in the field of medicine,” says Vorster. 

According to her, young people pursue the knowledge and clinical skills that will enable them to save lives. “I can confirm that many medical students, interns, comm-serves, registrars, and even specialists experience depression, trauma, anxiety, eating disorders, bereavement, substance abuse, and other psychological disorders and symptoms during their studies and work.” 

However, says Vorster, there is an added threat that can be even more dangerous than these disorders, and that is the stigma associated with being a medical professional and acknowledging that you have a psychiatric disorder, and are receiving medical and psychological treatment for this.  

“This is the deadliest threat to our doctors. More insidious than any pandemic, is the lack of freedom to access psychological assistance without the fear of being labelled as impaired or incompetent. In fact, medical doctors who receive psychiatric and psychological treatment are healthier and better able to assist their patients than those who suffer alone,” says Vorster.

According to Vorster, medical professionals are exposed to even more loss and suffering than they usually would be during this difficult time of the pandemic; they put their loved ones at risk of infection, and place their own lives at risk in order to serve their patients. 

• For medical students, there is a small bonus: Ithemba wants them to post their sock selfies on www.facebook.com/IthembaFoundation1 and encourage family and friends to like their sock selfies. The student with the most likes on each campus will get a cash prize of R1 000. 

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof Robert Bragg, Dept. of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology
2006-05-17



Attending the inaugural lecture were in front from the left Prof Robert Bragg (lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology) and Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor).  At the back from the left were Prof James du Preez (Departmental Chairperson:  Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology) and Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences). Photo: Stephen Collett
 

A summary of an inaugural lecture delivered by Prof Robert Bragg at the University of the Free State:

CONTROL OF INFECTIOUS AVIAN DISEASES – LESSONS FOR MAN?

Prof Robert R Bragg
Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology
University of the Free State

“Many of the lessons learnt in disease control in poultry will have application on human medicine,” said Prof Robert Bragg, lecturer at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology during his inaugural lecture.

Prof Bragg said the development of vaccines remains the main stay of disease control in humans as well as in avian species.  Disease control can not rely on vaccination alone and other disease-control options must be examined.  

“With the increasing problems of antibiotic resistance, the use of disinfection and bio security are becoming more important,” he said.

“Avian influenza (AI) is an example of a disease which can spread from birds to humans.  Hopefully this virus will not develop human to human transmission,” said Prof Bragg.

According to Prof Bragg, South Africa is not on the migration route of water birds, which are the main transmitters of AI.  “This makes South Africa one of the countries less likely to get the disease,” he said.

If the AI virus does develop human to human transmission, it could make the 1918 flu pandemic pale into insignificance.  During the 1918 flu pandemic, the virus had a mortality rate of only 3%, yet more than 50 million people died.

Although the AI virus has not developed human-to-human transmission, all human cases have been related to direct contact with infected birds. The mortality rate in humans who have contracted this virus is 67%.

“Apart from the obvious fears for the human population, this virus is a very serious poultry pathogen and can cause 100% mortality in poultry populations.  Poultry meat and egg production is the staple protein source in most countries around the world. The virus is currently devastating the poultry industry world-wide,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg’s research activities on avian diseases started off with the investigation of diseases in poultry.  “The average life cycle of a broiler chicken is 42 days.  After this short time, they are slaughtered.  As a result of the short generation time in poultry, one can observe changes in microbial populations as a result of the use of vaccines, antibiotics and disinfectants,” said Prof Bragg.   

“Much of my research effort has been directed towards the control of infectious coryza in layers, which is caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragallinarum.  This disease is a type of sinusitis in the layer chickens and can cause a drop in egg product of up to 40%,” said Prof Bragg.

The vaccines used around the world in an attempt to control this disease are all inactivated vaccines. One of the most important points is the selection of the correct strains of the bacterium to use in the vaccine.

Prof Bragg established that in South Africa, there are four different serovars of the bacterium and one of these, the serovar C-3 strain, was believed to be unique to Southern Africa. He also recently discovered this serovar for the first time in Israel, thus indicating that this serovar might have a wider distribution than originally believed.

Vaccines used in this country did not contain this serovar.  Prof Bragg established that the long term use of vaccines not containing the local South African strain resulted in a shift in the population distribution of the pathogen.

Prof Bragg’s research activities also include disease control in parrots and pigeons.   “One of the main research projects in my group is on the disease in parrots caused by the circovirus Beak and Feather Disease virus. This virus causes serious problems in the parrot breeding industry in this country. This virus is also threatening the highly endangered and endemic Cape Parrot,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg’s research group is currently working on the development of a DNA vaccine which will assist in the control of the disease, not only in the parrot breeding industry, but also to help the highly endangered Cape Parrot in its battle for survival.

“Not all of our research efforts are directed towards infectious coryza or the Beak and Feather Disease virus.  One of my Masters students is currently investigating the cell receptors involved in the binding of Newcastle Disease virus to cancerous cells and normal cells of humans. This work will also eventually lead to a possible treatment of cancer in humans and will assist with the development of a recombinant vaccine for Newcastle disease virus,” said Prof Bragg.

We are also currently investigating an “unknown” virus which causes disease problems in poultry in the Western Cape,” said Prof Bragg.
 
“Although disinfection has been extensively used in the poultry industry, it has only been done at the pre-placement stage. In other words, disinfectants are used before the birds are placed into the house. Once the birds are placed, all use of disinfectants stops,” said Prof Bragg.

“Disinfection and bio security can be seen as the ‘Cinderella’ of disease control in poultry.  This is also true for human medicine. One just has to look at the high numbers of people who die from hospital-acquired infections to realise that disinfection is not a concept which is really clear in human health care,” said Prof Bragg.

Much research has been done in the control of diseases through vaccination and through the use of antibiotics. “These pillars of disease control are, however, starting to crumble and more effort is needed on disinfection and bio security,” said Prof Bragg.

Prof Bragg has been working in close co-operation with a chemical manufacturing company in Stellenbosch to develop a unique disinfectant which his highly effective yet not toxic to the birds.

As a result of this unique product, he has developed the continual disinfection program for use in poultry. In this program the disinfectant is used throughout the production cycle of the birds. It is also used to ensure that there is excellent pre-placement disinfection.

“The program is extensively used for the control of infectious diseases in the parrot-breeding industry in South Africa and the product has been registered in 15 countries around the world with registration in the USA in the final process,” said Prof Bragg.

“Although the problem of plasmid mediated resistance to disinfectants is starting to rear its ugly head, this has allowed for the opening of a new research field which my group will hopefully exploit in the near future,” he said.

 

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