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Researchers from UCT and the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium) have shown that a four-week course of moderate dose prednisone reduced the risk of tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) by 30% in HIV-positive patients. This is the first trial to show that TB-IRIS can be prevented in these patients and represents an important contribution to the body of knowledge on management of HIV-TB co-infection.
TB-IRIS is a serious risk in people living with HIV, resulting in hospitalisation of a quarter of people who experience it. The syndrome occurs in 18% of patients with HIV-associated TB initiating antiretroviral therapy.
Paediatric cardiologist Associate Professor Liesl Zühlke has recently won the prestigious SA Medical Research Council/ UK Department of International Development(MRC/DFID) African Research Leader Award. The award, valued at £750 000 (R14.565 million) over 5 years, will assist Prof Zühlke in continuing her research of children with heart disease in Africa, in partnership with Prof Bernard Kheavney (UK) as well as local partners Prof Mark Engel, Dr Gasnat Shaboodien, Prof Raj Ramasar, Prof Mpiko Ntsekhe, Dr Blanche Cupido and Prof Ntobeko Ntusi.
The co-chairs of HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P 2018), the world’s only scientific meeting dedicated exclusively to biomedical HIV prevention, have announced that the 2018 Desmond Tutu Award for HIV Prevention Research and Human Rights will be presented to HIV researcher, physician and community advocate Linda-Gail Bekker of Cape Town, South Africa. The presentation will take place at the Opening Plenary of this year’s HIVR4P conference, Monday 22 October in Madrid, Spain.
Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Raimondo and his team for receiving the Wellcome Trust Seed Award. Seed Awards help researchers develop novel ideas that will go on to form part of larger grant applications to Wellcome or elsewhere.
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