Human rabies associated with domestic cat exposures in South Africa, 1983-2018.

No abstract available.

A dog bite study in a dog rabies-affected area in South Africa.

Background: Rabies is an untreatable and highly fatal viral zoonosis. Despite the ability to control and prevent the disease, it is estimated that one person dies of rabies every 10 minutes in developing countries. However, the true burden of the disease remains undefined in most developing countries because of a lack of systematic surveillance.

Phylodynamic Analysis of Ebola Virus Disease Transmission in Sierra Leone.

We generated genome sequences from 218 cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Sierra Leone (SLE) during 2014⁻2015 to complement available datasets, particularly by including cases from a period of low sequence coverage during peak transmission of Ebola virus (EBOV) in the highly-affected Western Area division of SLE. The combined dataset was utilized to produce phylogenetic and phylodynamic inferences, to study sink⁻source dynamics and virus dispersal from highly-populated transmission hotspots. We identified four districts in SLE where EBOV was introduced and transmission occurred without onward exportation to other districts.

South African Ebola diagnostic response in Sierra Leone: A modular high biosafety field laboratory.

Background: In August 2014, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa established a modular high-biosafety field Ebola diagnostic laboratory (SA FEDL) near Freetown, Sierra Leone in response to the rapidly increasing number of Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases.

Methods And Findings: The SA FEDL operated in the Western Area of Sierra Leone, which remained a "hotspot" of the EVD epidemic for months. The FEDL was the only diagnostic capacity available to respond to the overwhelming demand for rapid EVD laboratory diagnosis for several weeks in the initial stages of the EVD crisis in the capital of Sierra Leone.

Serological evidence of rift valley fever virus among acute febrile patients in Southern Mozambique during and after the 2013 heavy rainfall and flooding: implication for the management of febrile illness.

Background: Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) remains heavily neglected in humans in Mozambique, even though recent outbreaks were reported in neighboring countries in humans and several cases of RVFV in cattle were reported in several districts in Mozambique.

Findings: We conducted a cross sectional study during and after severe flooding that occurred in 2013 in Mozambique. Paired acute and convalescent serum samples were tested from febrile patients attending a primary health care unit in a suburban area of Maputo city for the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies against Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Clinical and Epidemiological Characterization of the First Recognized Outbreak of Dengue Virus-Type 2 in Mozambique, 2014.

Since the first reported epidemic of dengue in Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province, in 1984-1985, no further cases have been reported in Mozambique. In March 2014, the Provincial Health Directorate of Cabo Delgado reported a suspected dengue outbreak in Pemba, associated with a recent increase in the frequency of patients with nonmalarial febrile illness. An investigation conducted between March and June detected a total of 193 clinically suspected dengue patients in Pemba and Nampula, the capital of neighboring Nampula Province.

Epidemiologic Investigations into Outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever in Humans, South Africa, 2008-2011.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an emerging zoonosis posing a public health threat to humans in Africa. During sporadic RVF outbreaks in 2008-2009 and widespread epidemics in 2010-2011, 302 laboratory-confirmed human infections, including 25 deaths (case-fatality rate, 8%) were identified. Incidence peaked in late summer to early autumn each year, which coincided with incidence rate patterns in livestock.

International external quality assessment of molecular detection of Rift Valley fever virus.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis that primarily affects animals resulting in considerable economic losses due to death and abortions among infected livestock. RVF also affects humans with clinical symptoms ranging from an influenza-like illness to a hemorrhagic fever. Over the past years, RVF virus (RVFV) has caused severe outbreaks in livestock and humans throughout Africa and regions of the world previously regarded as free of the virus.