Publications by authors named "Nomcebo Nhlabathi"
Background: Inference of person-to-person transmission networks using surveillance data is increasingly used to estimate spatiotemporal patterns of pathogen transmission. Several data types can be used to inform transmission network inferences, yet the sensitivity of those inferences to different data types is not routinely evaluated.
Methods: The influence of different combinations of spatial, temporal, and travel-history data on transmission network inferences for Plasmodium falciparum malaria were evaluated.
Effectiveness and safety of reactive focal mass drug administration (rfMDA) using dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine to reduce malaria transmission in the very low-endemic setting of Eswatini: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial.
BMJ Glob Health
June 2021
Introduction: To reduce malaria transmission in very low-endemic settings, screening and treatment near index cases (reactive case detection (RACD)), is widely practised, but the rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) used miss low-density infections. Reactive focal mass drug administration (rfMDA) may be safe and more effective.
Methods: We conducted a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial in Eswatini, a very low-endemic setting.
Background: To better understand transmission dynamics, we characterized Plasmodium falciparum genetic diversity in Eswatini, where transmission is low and sustained by importation.
Methods: Twenty-six P. falciparum microsatellites were genotyped in 66% of confirmed cases (2014-2016; N = 582).
Background: Reactive case detection (RACD) is a widely practiced malaria elimination intervention whereby close contacts of index cases receive malaria testing to inform treatment and other interventions. However, the optimal diagnostic and operational approaches for this resource-intensive strategy are not clear.
Methods: We conducted a 3-year prospective national evaluation of RACD in Eswatini, a malaria elimination setting.
Background: Low-quality housing may confer risk of malaria infection, but evidence in low transmission settings is limited.
Methods: To examine the relationship between individual level housing quality and locally acquired infection in children and adults, a population-based cross-sectional analysis was performed using existing surveillance data from the low transmission setting of Swaziland. From 2012 to 2015, cases were identified through standard diagnostics in health facilities and by loop-mediated isothermal amplification in active surveillance, with uninfected subjects being household members and neighbors.
Background: The performance of Plasmodium falciparum-specific histidine-rich protein 2-based rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to evaluate suspected malaria in low-endemicity settings has not been well characterized.
Methods: Using dried blood spot samples from patients with suspected malaria at 37 health facilities from 2012 to 2014 in the low-endemicity country of Swaziland, we investigated the diagnostic accuracy of histidine-rich protein 2-based RDTs using qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (nested PCR targeting the cytochrome b gene) and quantitative PCR as reference standards. To explore reasons for false-negative and/or false-positive results, we used pfhrp2/3-specific PCR and logistic regression analyses of potentially associated epidemiological factors.