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2022 Africa Week

07 April 2022 | Story Bhekumusa N. Zikhali

Celebrating Africa Month – call for contributions

The University of the Free State Office for International Affairs, in collaboration with the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice, will be hosting its fifth annual Africa Day commemoration. The 2022 commemoration will be hosted across all three campuses in a marathon we call Africa Week, which unifies the activities through cross-campus collaboration speaking in one voice for one institution. The activities will be three-tiered, starting with an opening ceremony for Africa Week on the South Campus, a celebratory dialogue on the Bloemfontein Campus, and lastly, the closing ceremony of Africa Week on the Qwaqwa Campus. All three activities will be embodied under the theme ‘African Higher Education – Celebrating African Education’, which will embrace artistic expressions, music, dance, and meaningful dialogue that will provide an element for teaching and learning. You are all cordially invited to tune in.

In accordance with COVID-19 protocols/rules, the different activities will have limited capacity for attendance, but live streaming will be made available to the rest of us. This may change at any given time according to circumstances as determined by the relevant departments of the institution.

You are all cordially invited to tune in; be on the lookout for the RSVP link for attendance. In the meantime, save the date and the links below.

Livestream link: https://livestream.ufs.ac.za/

Opening Ceremony South Campus
Date: 23 May 2022
Venue: Open space outside the cafeteria
Time: 13:00 – 15:00

Celebratory Dialogue Bloemfontein Campus
Date: 25 May 2022
Venue: Centenary Complex
Time: 16:00 – 19:00

Closing Ceremony Qwaqwa Campus
Date: 27 May 2022
Venue: VIP Hall
Time: 12:30 – 15:00

News Archive

Researchers receive study grant for research into Congo Fever

2015-03-10

UFS researchers will be contributing significantly to the search for a vaccine against the deadly tick-borne disease known as Congo Fever.

Prof Felicity Burt from the Department of Medical Microbiology and Virology was recently awarded a research grant by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) to study candidate vaccines for Crimean-Congo heamorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus and other arboviruses.

Arboviruses are viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, or other arthropods.

Prof Burt is an internationally-recognised expert on the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). The Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus is a tick-borne virus that is associated with severe haemorrhagic disease in South Africa and other parts of Africa, Asia, and eastern Europe. Her interests focus on medically significant viruses that are transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes. Her research group is involved in determining the immune responses that are induced by different viral proteins.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, a tick- borne virus found in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and eastern Europe, causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks.

Although a number of tick species are capable of becoming infected with CCHF virus, ticks of the genus Hyalomma, commonly referred to in SA as the “bont-legged ticks”, are the principal vector. The ticks have distinctive brown and white bands on their legs.

In February 1981, the first case of CCHF was recognised in South Africa (SA). To date, there have been nearly 200 cases of CCHF infection in SA with a 20% fatality rate. The majority of cases occurring in SA were in patients from the Northern Cape and Free State provinces.

“The funding that has been awarded will be used to profile immune responses against CCHF viral proteins, and investigate mechanisms and strategies to enhance these immune responses. We hope that the study will contribute knowledge towards the development of a vaccine against this medically significant virus.”

For more information or enquiries contact news@ufs.ac.za.

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