South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Repository
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1675 research outputs found
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Insights from public responses to the South African National Health Insurance proposals.
No full textPresented at IHEA 2023 Congress
Adaptive complex systems to mobilise rapid evidenceinformed decision-making for the National treatment guidelines for COVID-19 in South Africa
No full text3rd Annual Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa held on 5-9 June 2023
Perpetrators of femicide in South Africa
No full textSVRI Forum September 19-23 2022 September Cancun, Mexico
Applying universal design to learning to ensure access to comprehensive sexuality education for learners with disabilities
No full textPresented at International AIDS Conference. Montreal 1 August 2022
Report on weekly deaths in South Africa: Week 12
No full textThis report provides estimates of the weekly number of deaths of all persons in South Africa for epidemiological Week 12 of 2022, covering the period 20 – 26 Mar 2022
The association between sex hormone binding globulin and dysglycaemia, insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in black South African women: Impact of HIV and menopausal status
No full textNo abstract availabl
Report on weekly deaths in South Africa: Week 11
No full textThis report provides estimates of the weekly number of deaths of all persons in South Africa for epidemiological Week 11 of 2022, covering the period 13 – 19 Mar 2022
Point of care antibody tests for covid-19: Field-based performance, South Africa
No full textConference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, 12 - 16 February 2022, Virtual.Background:
SARS-CoV2 antibody testing is an important auxillary test especially for retrospective diagnosis or in patients with long COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome of childhood. Epidemiological serology studies may also assist public health planning. Access to formal laboratory testing is not universal in many low-and middle-income (LMIC) countries and rapid lateral flow antibody tests are an attractive alternative. Performance of these tests has been inconsistent. A large-scale study was undertaken in South Africa, during the beta and delta waves, to assess the field-based performance of rapid point of care (POC) COVID-19 antibody tests.
Methods:
Symptomatic, ambulatory persons under investigation (PUIs) aged 18 years and older, presenting for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis at public health facilities in three provinces, South Africa were enrolled at baseline. All patients completed a questionnaire regarding symptoms. Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken and processed for SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing using a GeneXpert (Cepheid, USA), or manual assay (ThermoFisher TaqPath assay or Seegene Allplex assay) on a real-time platform at routine accredited National Health Laboratory Service laboratories as per routine national protocols. Concomitantly, trained study staff performed three facility-based POC lateral flow antibody tests on a on a fingerstick sample and blood was collected for formal serology. POC tests were selected following a rapid in-laboratory evaluation. Asymptomatic contacts of people with confirmed COVID-19 were recruited into the asymptomatic study arm and rapid tests and PCR were performed. PCR and rapid positive patients and 500 negative controls were followed up at 5-14 days. Antibody tests were compared with formal serology performed on 2 platforms-Euroimmun (Euroimmun, Lubeck) IgA and IgG anti-S antibodies and Abbott Architect IgG test.
Results:
The sensitivity (S), specificity (Sp), positive (PPV) and negative predictive (NPV) values of tests for PUIs and contacts were calculated (Table 1)∗. Analyses using serology as a reference are forthcoming.
Conclusion:
Compared with PCR, performance of rapid POC COVID-19 antibody tests was poor with low sensitivity. This may reflect the patient cohort tested as humoral responses typically develop from day 7-14. The tests are unlikely to be useful for acute diagnosis but sensitivity may improve at later timepoints and further follow up data will be analysed by duration of symptom onset, severity of symptoms and wave (beta versus delta)
Back to the drawing board: Rethinking potential predictors of preschool executive function in low-income South Africa
No full textThis study aimed to explore cross-sectional associations between executive function (EF), and community and household factors (household SES, caregiver education, home learning environment, caregiver/child interaction, caregiver wellbeing, and exposure to community violence) in a sample of children from very low-SES settings in Cape Town, South Africa. Results revealed that children exposed to higher levels of violence perform worse on inhibition tasks. No other associations were significant, highlighting the need to reassess how researchers can better understand these settings and the effects on EF development