Publications by authors named "Jonathan Rigby"

Article Synopsis
  • Environmental surveillance helps scientists study how Salmonella Typhi (the germ that causes typhoid fever) spreads in places where many people are sick and there's not much clean water.
  • Researchers tested water samples from 43 sites in Blantyre, Malawi, and found that about 2.1% of some samples and 3.9% of other samples had the germ in them.
  • They noticed that the presence of human waste in the water was linked to more chances of finding the germ, but the timing of when they found it didn't match with the number of people getting sick, showing that this testing can still help track the germ even when fewer people have typhoid fever.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) causes Typhoid fever, and while blood cultures are the best way to diagnose it, they're hard to use in resource-limited areas.* -
  • Researchers developed a novel process control organism (PCO) as a biosafe surrogate to test various environmental surveillance methods for detecting S. Typhi in water.* -
  • The PCO successfully mimicked S. Typhi in lab tests and was consistently detected in wastewater samples from India and Malawi, making it a reliable tool for validating environmental detection methods for this pathogen.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted health systems globally and robust surveillance has been critical for pandemic control, however not all countries can currently sustain community pathogen surveillance programs. Wastewater surveillance has proven valuable in high-income settings, but less is known about the utility of water surveillance of pathogens in low-income countries. Here we show how wastewater surveillance of SAR-CoV-2 can be used to identify temporal changes and help determine circulating variants quickly.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Environmental surveillance (ES) for Salmonella Typhi is a cost-effective way to identify communities at risk for typhoid fever by utilizing standardized protocols for sample collection and analysis.
  • A study conducted in Vellore, India and Blantyre, Malawi showed significantly higher S. Typhi presence in Vellore samples, despite low reported clinical cases of typhoid during the study period.
  • The findings suggest that ES can effectively indicate the prevalence of S. Typhi even without clinical cases, which may help guide future public health actions, such as vaccine distribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact health systems globally and robust surveillance is critical for pandemic control, however not all countries can sustain community surveillance programs. Wastewater surveillance has proven valuable in high-income settings, but little is known about how river and informal sewage in low-income countries can be used for environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. In Malawi, a country with limited community-based COVID-19 testing capacity, we explored the utility of rivers and wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Environmental surveillance of rivers and wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 detection has been explored as an innovative way to surveil the pandemic. This study estimated the economic costs of conducting wastewater-based environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 to inform decision making if countries consider continuing these efforts. We estimated the cost of two SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance pilot studies conducted in Blantyre, Malawi, and Kathmandu, Nepal.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on developing a low-cost method for extracting antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) from river water, as current environmental monitoring techniques are inconsistent.
  • A new magnetic bead-based method, called MagnaExtract, is introduced and tested against commercial kits and traditional methods, showing comparable or superior results for isolating ARGs.
  • The MagnaExtract technique is significant for enhancing environmental surveillance in East Africa, offering a simple and effective option for monitoring ARGs in water samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the efficiency of protein extraction methods from FFPE colorectal cancer tissues, focusing on the role of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 20,000.
  • Results show that excluding PEG 20,000 enhances the identification of peptides and proteins, improving reproducibility of the extraction process.
  • The findings suggest that high protein concentrations can hinder the effectiveness of PEG, indicating that protocols should avoid its use for optimal protein yield from FFPE tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on developing a method for detecting Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi) in environmental samples to improve monitoring of typhoid outbreaks.
  • Researchers tested various culture media and found a successful pathway for isolating viable S. Typhi from river water samples in Malawi, using a combination of broths and agar followed by PCR confirmation.
  • This research marks the first successful isolation of S. Typhi from the environment in decades, highlighting the importance of integrating environmental testing with clinical data for better disease surveillance and public health interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To elucidate cancer pathogenesis and its mechanisms at the molecular level, the collecting and characterization of large individual patient tissue cohorts are required. Since most pathology institutes routinely preserve biopsy tissues by standardized methods of formalin fixation and paraffin embedment, these archived FFPE tissues are important collections of pathology material that include patient metadata, such as medical history and treatments. FFPE blocks can be stored under ambient conditions for decades, while retaining cellular morphology, due to modifications induced by formalin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In recent years, novel lineages of invasive non-typhoidal (iNTS) serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis have been identified in patients with bloodstream infection in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we isolated and characterised 32 phages capable of infecting . Typhimurium and .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The histological discrimination of hyperplastic polyps from sessile serrated lesions can be difficult. Sessile serrated lesions and hyperplastic polyps are types of serrated polyps which confer different malignancy risks, and surveillance intervals, and are sometimes difficult to discriminate. Our aim was to reclassify previously diagnosed hyperplastic polyps as sessile serrated lesions or confirmed hyperplastic polyps, using additional serial sections.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Primary effusion lymphoma is a rare, clinically aggressive large B-cell neoplasm universally associated with human herpesvirus 8 that occurs in the setting of immune compromise. It is classically described as a lymphomatous effusion occurring within body cavities. Recently, however, solid tumor masses, and rarely an intravascular form, have been described.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To compare and evaluate phenotypic and genotypic methods for the detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in England and Wales.

Methods: WGS data from 528 isolates of Campylobacter spp. (452 C.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Colorectal perineuriomas are uncommon benign mucosal-based proliferations of mesenchymal cells that express perineurial markers, often associated with colonic crypts displaying a serrated/hyperplastic architecture. The vast majority of cases arise distal to the splenic flexure and have been described as sessile polyps. Using molecular analysis, BRAF mutations have been demonstrated in the serrated crypt epithelium.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this report, we describe a male patient who presented with recurrent life-threatening hemoptysis due to the sequential formation of multiple pulmonary aneurysms. Both pulmonary artery coil embolization and right lower lobectomy were performed, with limited success. The patient experienced extensive bilateral femoral DVT extending into the inferior vena cava, with massive hemoptysis, fulfilling the diagnosis of Hughes-Stovin syndrome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acral peeling skin syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder in which skin exfoliation is limited to the hands and feet. While it typically manifests from early childhood, in this first reported case from South Africa, the patient did not manifest clinically until the fourth decade of life.

Case Report: A 44-year-old woman of African descent, 1 of a set of non-identical twins, presented with recurrent episodes of skin peeling of the upper and lower limbs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF