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Mission: Possible

20 December 2021 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Igno van Niekerk

Dr Samantha Potgieter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr Nicholas Pearce, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery comment on their team members’ commitment and determination during the pandemic.

On the forefront of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, two UFS doctors are leading a team of inspired healthcare workers in a superhuman effort to make a positive difference.

With the pandemic in its second year and the recurring challenges of new waves and strains consistently in the news, one would expect the doctors to be tired. However, quite the opposite is true. Upon entering the office where Dr Samantha Potgieter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr Nicholas Pearce, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery are in a meeting with colleagues, the debate is vibrant; an energetic sense of mission.

Miraculously succeeded

My brief is to collect stories and experiences they’ve had over the past 18 months at the Tumelo ward for general and high-care patients, where the team has miraculously succeeded in not running out of oxygen or ventilators, despite handling high volumes of patients from the Free State and Northern Cape. “We saw those pictures of piled-up bodies in Italy. We were committed to avoiding that at all costs. And we did.”

Success stories? First mentioned are their team members’ commitment and determination. The team had to stand in when families could not support dying patients. “They did not die alone. Our team was there.”

“Really sad and frustrating are the deaths that could have been prevented. Unvaccinated patients. They arrive ill, wanting to know if they can get it. Too late...” – Dr Nicholas Pearce

Then came hope

Sad stories? The past year has had its share of sad stories. “Someone comes in during the morning, needs oxygen, in the afternoon they are in ICU, then ventilator – and then they die. We’ve never faced anything like this before.”

Then came hope. Vaccines. Dr Pearce is in charge of the vaccination site at Universitas Hospital. “Really sad and frustrating are the deaths that could have been prevented. Unvaccinated patients. They arrive ill, wanting to know if they can get it. Too late ...” He opens his cell phone – shares the stats. “We can handle 2 000 vaccinations a day. At the moment about 250 comes in.” He shakes his head.

“We can beat this virus, but we need to stand together ...”

News Archive

Researchers focus on parrots, poultry and phage therapy

2014-10-10

Photo: en.wikipedia

Veterinary biotechnology focuses on microbial and molecular biological approaches to veterinary illnesses. The group working on veterinary biotechnology research at the University of the Free State (UFS) consists of two academic staff members, Prof Rob Bragg and Dr Charlotte Boucher, two post-doctoral fellows, Drs Chris Theron and Arina Hitzeroth, five PhD and three honours students.

The group has three research focus areas.

Dr Boucher says, “Our main focus area is infectious coryza in poultry, caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragalliarum. The aim is the control of the disease, mainly through improvement of vaccines, understanding the immune response and improved biosecurity. A key objective is improving methods for serotyping; studying of selected surface antigens and investigating the influence recently discovered bacteriophages might have on virulence. We have co-operative projects with research groups in China, India and Israel.

“The second focus area is an expression system co-developed with the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), France. The flagship project is the expression of the coat protein gene of the beak and feather disease virus, a disease affecting parrots, currently threatening the endangered Cape parrot. This system has led to the development of serological tests, currently under patenting. The application of this system has been extended to human-related diseases, with two interdisciplinary projects underway, co-working with Profs Muriel Meiring and Felicity Burt. Prof Meiring is working on diseases causing bleeding disorders, such as blood-clotting impairment, while Prof Burt is working on viral infections causing haemorrhagic (bleeding) disorders.

“We are also researching disease control in a post-antibiotic era, investigating the potential of phage-therapy by targeting and destroying pathogenic islands within a host, with reduced side-effects on the host itself.

“We have smaller projects, including an interdisciplinary project with Zoology, looking at the protein profile of amphibian (frog) secretions with the focus on antimicrobial activity, as these secretions assist with protecting amphibian skin against infections.”

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