Publications by authors named "Martie L Van der Walt"
We analyzed data for a retrospective cohort of patients treated for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in 2 provinces in South Africa and compared predictors of treatment outcome in HIV-positive patients who received or had not received antiretroviral drugs with those for HIV-negative patients. Overall, 220 (62.0%) of 355 patients were HIV positive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment and antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces morbidity and mortality among persons co-infected with TB/HIV. We measured adherence and determined factors associated with non-adherence to concurrent TB treatment and ART among co-infected persons in two provinces in South Africa.
Methods: A convenience sample of 35 clinics providing integrated TB/HIV care was included due to financial and logistic considerations.
Article Synopsis
- Tuberculosis poses a significant risk to healthcare workers (HCWs) in high-burden areas, with a 2- to 3-fold increased risk compared to the general population.
- A study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, identified occupational risk factors for tuberculosis among HCWs diagnosed between 2006 and 2010, finding that clinical and support staff had the highest rates of infection.
- The biggest risk factor was HIV infection, with HIV-positive HCWs having a 6.35 times higher likelihood of developing tuberculosis, highlighting the need for improved infection control and support for HCWs regarding their HIV status.
Background: Even though highly effective drugs are available in South Africa, multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients with HIV infection have higher mortality compared to HIV-uninfected MDR-TB patients. This trend has been observed in similar countries with high HIV prevalence. This study sought to determine excess mortality attributable to HIV among MDR-TB patients in South Africa using relative survival methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA natural TB infection model using guinea pigs may provide useful information for investigating differences in transmission efficiency and establishment of active disease by clinical TB strains in a highly susceptible host under controlled environmental conditions. We sought to examine the capacity of naturally transmitted multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis to establish infection and produce active disease in guinea pigs. Guinea pigs were continuously exposed for 4 months to the exhaust air of a 6-bed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis inpatient hospital ward in South Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tuberculosis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) have had high mortality rates, especially when coinfected with HIV.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study of the first 206 patients treated for XDR-TB in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, October 2006 to January 2008, a province that has treated multidrug-resistant tuberculosis since 2000.