Publications by authors named "K Ngoni"
Background: The role of computed tomography (CT) before lumbar puncture (LP) is unclear, with limited evidence for a causal link between LP and cerebral herniation or for the ability of CT to identify individuals at risk of herniation. The risks of LP delay or deferral are potentially greater in high-HIV prevalence, resource-limited settings; we analyzed data from such a setting to determine the impact of CT on time to LP and treatment, as well as mortality.
Methods: Adults with suspected central nervous system (CNS) infection were enrolled prospectively into the Botswana National Meningitis Survey between 2016 and 2019.
Article Synopsis
- Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a major health issue in Botswana, especially linked to high HIV rates, and prior to 2016, TB testing was limited to mycobacterial cultures, making diagnosis difficult.
- The introduction of the GeneXpert platform significantly improved TB-specific investigations in cerebrospinal fluid samples, increasing from 4.5% to 29% from 2016 to 2022, as access to testing became more widespread.
- Despite a decline in total CSF samples analyzed, the proportion of microbiologically confirmed TBM cases rose slightly, indicating that better testing methods are leading to more accurate diagnoses in remote healthcare settings.
Background: Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) causes substantial mortality in African countries with a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), despite advances in disease management and increasing antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. Reliable diagnosis of CM is cheap and more accessible than other indicators of advanced HIV disease burden such as CD4 testing or investigation for disseminated tuberculosis; therefore, monitoring CM incidence has the potential to serve as a valuable metric of HIV programmatic success.
Methods: Botswana national meningitis surveillance data from 2015 to 2022 were obtained from electronic health records.
Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection and a causative agent of cervical cancer. It is common in adolescent girls and young women, and the majority of infections are transient and asymptomatic. In Botswana, there are currently no data on the HPV prevalence against which the impact of prophylactic HPV vaccines can be measured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: We characterized the cervical 16S rDNA microbiome of patients in Botswana with high-grade cervical dysplasia and locally advanced cervical cancer.
Methods: This prospective study included 31 patients: 21 with dysplasia and 10 with cancer. The Shannon diversity index was used to evaluate alpha (intra-sample) diversity, while the UniFrac (weighted and unweighted) and Bray-Curtis distances were employed to evaluate beta (inter-sample) diversity.