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13 September 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath
As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the webinar as part of the Free State Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal. 

The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa. Some of the topics for 2021 include, among others, reimagining universities for student success; corruption in South Africa – the endemic pandemic; South African politics and the local government elections; and Is South Africa falling apart. In 2020, the webinar series saw the successful participation of leading experts discussing COVID-19 and the crisis facing the country socially, economically, and politically. 

This year, in lieu of the Free State Arts Festival, the UFS will present the webinar virtually over a period of six months. 

Fifth webinar presented on 28 September 2021

A number of surveys have found some degree of vaccine hesitancy among the public. This webinar will clarify why we need to vaccinate against COVID-19 and why vaccines are safe. A major development in the COVID-19 pandemic has been the arrival and distribution of safe and effective vaccines. As the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreads around the world, the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective enough to prevent severe life-threatening COVID-19 complications. Although vaccines do not fully protect everyone who is vaccinated, nor guarantee zero transmission, a great deal of adherence to other measures is still required. Returning to a new normal routine of life can only happen as more people are vaccinated.


Date: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Topic: Why vaccinate?
Time: 12:30-14:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 24 September 2021 

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Prof Adrian Puren
Acting Executive Director
National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)

Dr Nicholas Pearce

Head of Department: Surgery
Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS


Prof Glenda Gray
President and CEO
South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)

Dr Angelique Coetzee
Chairperson
South African Medical Association (SAMA)


Bios of speakers:

Prof Puren is the newly appointed Acting Executive Director of the NICD since December 2020. He was trained and held a lectureship at the University of the Witwatersrand, before taking on various positions at the NICD. Prof Puren was appointed as Deputy Director and Head of Virology in 1999, and as Head of the Centre for HIV and STIs in 2017.  As Head of Virology, he focused on developing and implementing a range of viral diagnostic platforms in support of the NICD’s EPI surveillance programmes and diagnostic support.

His main interest is in the development of HIV surveillance programmes, with a particular focus on HIV incidence and the use of ‘big data’ to inform surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation. Prof Puren heads the regional and national endpoint diagnostics laboratory for HVTN-supported vaccine and antibody-mediated preventions trials, and he serves as the quality assurance technical manager for the NICD. In this capacity, he has provided support to the National Department of Health’s implementation and quality assurance of HIV rapid testing. Prof Puren serves on various expert bodies, the most recent of which is the South African Lancet Commission on High-Quality Health in the era of Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr Nicholas Pearce

Dr Pearce graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2002, after which he completed his internship at the Universitas Academic Hospital in 2003 and has been in the Free State ever since. He completed his postgraduate training at the University of the Free State and obtained a master’s degree in General Surgery as well as a Fellowship in General Surgery from the College of Surgeons to qualify as a subspecialist in vascular surgery.

Over the years, Dr Pearce has been a consultant in general surgery, a vascular fellow and head of vascular surgery, and is currently the Head of General Surgery at the University of the Free State as well as in the Free State province. He serves on the national Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA), is a member of the Vascular Society of Southern Africa and is an examiner for the College of Surgeons. He also serves on the board of the College of Surgeons as an executive member, is a member of the European Society for Vascular Surgery, and an executive member of the Surgical Research Society of South Africa.

He is responsible for undergraduate, postgraduate, and subspecialist training at the University of the Free State, as well as nationally, and is often an examiner at other institutions throughout South Africa. His publications over the years have been in the surgical field on diverse topics covering the ambit of surgery in South Africa. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he has been instrumental in setting up multiple field and surge facilities throughout the province, as well as several vaccination sites. Dr Pearce has also been involved in multiple studies on COVID-19 over the past year, is currently serving as a provincial task team member for COVID-19 and is also the Universitas COVID-19 task team chair.

Prof Glenda Gray is the President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and former Chair of the Research Committee on COVID-19, providing scientific evidence and experience to the Minister of Health and the National Coronavirus Command Council. 

Prof Gray studied medicine and paediatrics at Wits University, where she remains Full Professor: Research in the School of Clinical Medicine. She is a National Research Foundation A1-rated scientist and is world-renowned for her research on HIV vaccines and interventions to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. Prof Gray, together with James McIntyre, co-founded and led the globally eminent Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, for which she and McIntyre received the Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights Award in 2002.

She is co-principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and directs the programme in Africa. 

Prof Gray’s accolades include, among others, the Hero of Medicine Award from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, and the Outstanding Africa Scientist Award from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

She was named one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes, and by TIME as one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People. In 2013, Prof Gray was awarded South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe. Her qualifications include MBBCh (Wits), FCPaeds (SA), DSc (honoris causa Simon Fraser University), DSc (honoris causa Stellenbosch University), and LLD (honoris causa Rhodes University).

Dr Angelique Coetzee is the National Chair of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and is leading Pillar 5 on health service delivery of the Presidential Health Summit. She has extensive knowledge of private practice and is a member of various initiatives driving primary healthcare. Over the years, Dr Coetzee held numerous chair and vice chair positions in the SAMA on national and branch level. Dr Coetzee was a member of the National Ministerial Task Team on Military Hospitals in 2013; Chairperson Ministerial Medical Task Team on Internal and External Deployment SANDF 2014, and was elected as Vice Chair of the Medical Parole Advisory Board 2011.
Her credentials include BMedSci and MBChB (University of Pretoria), Post graduate Certificate in Advanced Health Management (CUM LAUDE)  FPD, Post graduate Higher Certificate in Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigations at the Faculty of Law from the University of Johannesburg , . She is currently completing her fraud examiners certificate with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).


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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