A5053641415- Reproductive tract infections research
- Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Gut microbiota and health
- Urinary Tract Infections Management
- Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Infant Nutrition and Health
- Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
- Pelvic floor disorders treatments
- Milk Quality and Mastitis in Dairy Cows
- Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing
- Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment
- Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens research
- Immune responses and vaccinations
- Identification and Quantification in Food
- Metallurgy and Material Forming
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Pediatric health and respiratory diseases
- Protein Degradation and Inhibitors
- Parasites and Host Interactions
- Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing
- Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
University of Cape Town
2016-2025
Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa
2021
Young African females are at an increased risk of HIV acquisition, and genital inflammation or the vaginal microbiome may contribute to this risk. We studied these factors in 168 HIV-negative South adolescent aged 16 22 years. Unsupervised clustering 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed three clusters (subtypes), one which was strongly associated with inflammation. In a multivariate model, compositional subtype hormonal contraception were significantly identified 40 taxa inflammation, including...
Early life microbiota is an important determinant of immune and metabolic development may have lasting consequences. The maternal gut during pregnancy or breastfeeding for defining infant microbiota. We hypothesized that a critical immunity. To test this, pregnant BALB/c dams were fed vancomycin 5 days prior to delivery (gestation; Mg), 14 postpartum nursing (Mn), gestation (Mgn), no (Mc). analyzed adaptive immunity in pups at various times after delivery. In addition direct alterations...
Objectives Vaginal dysbiosis and STIs are important drivers of the HIV epidemic reproductive complications. These conditions remain prevalent, partly because most cases asymptomatic. We have shown that inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β interferon-γ-induced protein (IP)-10 biomarkers for detecting asymptomatic vaginal (bacterial vaginosis (BV) or intermediate microbiota). This study aimed to validate performance these in African women recruited regardless symptoms. Methods...
Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionally affected by HIV infection and unintended pregnancies. However, hormonal contraceptive (HC) use may influence risk through changes genital tract microbiota inflammatory cytokines. To investigate this, 130 negative adolescent females aged 15-19 years were enrolled into a substudy of UChoose, an open-label randomized crossover study (NCT02404038), comparing acceptability product preference as proxy for prevention delivery methods....
The genital tract of African women has been shown to differ from what is currently accepted as 'normal', defined by a pH≤4.5 and lactobacilli-dominated microbiota. Adolescent girls young (AGYW) sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk for HIV, we hypothesized that specific biological factors likely be influential. This study aimed compare characteristics vaginal health in HIV-negative AGYW (16-22-years-old), two South communities, international norms. We measured plasma hormones, pH, presence BV...
Background Currently available schistosomiasis diagnostic and monitoring tools are limited, the development of novel technologies is necessary to enhance disease surveillance by supporting elimination efforts. Novel disease-specific biomarkers can facilitate these technologies. Through comparison parasite burden host factors, we assessed whether plasma cytokines could be used as robust for intestinal associated pathology in school-aged children (SAC) living endemic areas. Methods Levels were...
Adolescent girls and young women represent a key risk group for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The vaginal microbiota is thought to play an important role in susceptibility STIs such as Chlamydia trachomatis. We compared the of lateral wall endocervix, assessed associations with C. trachomatis infection South African adolescents. endocervical were characterized by amplifying sequencing V4 region 16S rRNA gene diagnosed using molecular methods. Of 72 included, 30 had asymptomatic...
The relevance of specific microbial colonisation to colorectal cancer (CRC) disease pathogenesis is increasingly recognised, but our understanding possible underlying molecular mechanisms that may link in vivo remains limited. Here, we investigate the relationships between most commonly studied CRC-associated bacteria (Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, pks+ Escherichia coli, Fusobacterium spp., afaC+ E. Enterococcus faecalis & Enteropathogenic coli) and altered transcriptomic methylation...
During pregnancy, the vaginal microbiota is relatively stable. However, African women have more diverse than their European counterparts, in addition to high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence and risk of adverse birth outcomes. Although HIV associated with alterations inflammation nonpregnant women, these relationships are underexplored pregnant women.In this study, we characterize immune factors who were HIV-uninfected (n = 314) versus HIV-infected 42). Mucosal samples collected...
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and periodontal disease (PD) are characterised as bacterial dysbioses. Both associated with an increased risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, yet it is unknown whether PD BV related. We the oral microbiota young South African females a high prevalence investigated association between communities vaginal microbiota. DNA was extracted from lateral wall, saliva supragingival plaque samples 94 adolescent (aged 15-19 years). 16S rRNA gene sequencing V4 hypervariable region...
With more microbiome studies being conducted by African-based research groups, there is an increasing demand for knowledge and skills in the design analysis of data. However, high-quality bioinformatics courses are often impeded differences computational environments, complicated software stacks, numerous dependencies, versions tools along with a lack local infrastructure expertise. To address this, H3ABioNet developed 16S rRNA Microbiome Intermediate Bioinformatics Training course,...
Exclusive breastfeeding reduces the rate of postnatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission compared to nonexclusive breastfeeding; however, mechanisms this protection are unknown. Our study aimed interrogate underlying protective effect exclusive breastfeeding.We performed a prospective, longitudinal infants from high-HIV-prevalence, low-income setting in South Africa. We evaluated role any non-breast milk feeds, excluding prescribed medicines on stool microbial communities via...
Fire and herbivory are important natural disturbances in grassy biomes. Both drivers likely to influence belowground microbial communities but no studies have unravelled the long-term impact of both fire on bacterial fungal communities. We hypothesized that soil change through disturbance-induced shifts properties (e.g. pH, nutrients) while vegetation modification (biomass species composition). To test these ideas, we characterised physico-chemical (pH, acidity, C, N, P exchangeable cations...
Serratia marcescens is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen, and recent reports have highlighted the rapid increase in multidrug resistance this organism. There a paucity genomic data for carbapenem-resistant S. (CRSM).A retrospective cohort study describing laboratory-confirmed CRSM from tertiary academic hospital Cape Town, South Africa, period 2015-20, was performed. Stored contemporary isolates were submitted WGS using Illumina MiSeq, with Nextera DNA Flex Library Preparation Kit....
Introduction Nasopharyngeal (NP) colonization with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is a global public health concern. Antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) genes carried by the resident NP microbiota may serve as reservoir for transfer of resistance elements to opportunistic pathogens. Little known about antibiotic resistome. This study longitudinally investigated composition resistome in Streptococcus-enriched samples South African birth cohort. Methods As proof concept study, 196 longitudinal...
Dementia is a debilitating neurological disease affecting millions of people worldwide. The exact mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression remain to be fully defined. There an increasing body evidence for role immune dysregulation in pathogenesis dementia, where blood-borne autoimmune antibodies have been studied as potential markers associated with pathological dementia.This study included plasma from 50 cognitively normal individuals, 55 subjects MCI (mild cognitive...
Outbreaks of community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa are typically small and localized. We investigated an increase in infections with P. Cape Town, South Africa.Cases were defined as isolated from any clinical sample, "wild-type" those susceptible to all antibiotics tested. The residential addresses wild-type cases mapped. Whole-genome sequencing multilocus sequence typing used determine clonality identify virulence genes. A study a subset patients bloodstream infection compared...
There remains a significant proportion of deaths due to pneumococcal pneumonia in infants from low- and middle-income countries despite the marginal global declines recorded past decade. Monitoring changes carriage is key understanding vaccination-induced shifts ecology carriage, patterns antimicrobial resistance, impact on health. We longitudinally investigated dynamics PCV-13 vaccinated by collecting nasopharyngeal (NP) samples at two-weekly intervals birth through first year life 137...
Few studies have investigated immune cell ontogeny throughout the neonatal and early pediatric period, when there is often increased vulnerability to infections. In this study, we evaluated dynamics of two critical T populations, regulatory (Treg) cells Th17 cells, over first 36 wk human life. First, observed distinct CD4
Objectives Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk of STIs and unintended pregnancies, yet hormonal contraceptive (HC) use may affect STI risk. We compared the influence three HCs on incidence prevalence bacterial vaginosis (BV) South African adolescents. Methods One hundred thirty adolescents between 15 19 years were randomised to injectable norethisterone enanthate (Net-En), combined oral contraceptives (COC) (Triphasil or Nordette) a vaginal ring (CCVR; NuvaRing) for 16 weeks...
Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by defects in two core domains, social/communication skills and restricted/repetitive behaviors or interests. There no approved biomarker for ASD diagnosis, the current diagnostic method based on clinical manifestation, which tends to vary vastly between affected individuals due heterogeneous nature of ASD. emerging evidence that supports implication immune system ASD, specifically autoimmunity;...
Abstract Background The molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in Cape Town remains largely unknown. Objectives This study aimed to describe the epidemiology, resistome, virulome and mobilome Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) within guide therapy, antimicrobial stewardship infection prevention control practices. Methods Eighty-five CRKP isolates from hospitalized patients underwent WGS as part a prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional study, conducted between 1 November...
Hormonal contraceptives (HCs) are vital in managing the reproductive health of women. However, HC usage has been linked to perturbations cervicovaginal immunity and increased risk sexually transmitted infections. Here, we evaluated impact three HCs on environment using high-throughput transcriptomics. From 2015 2017, 130 adolescent females aged 15–19 years were enrolled into a substudy UChoose, single-site, open-label randomized, crossover trial (NCT02404038) randomized injectable...