Association between tobacco smoking and prevalence of HIV, tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes in rural South Africa: a cross-sectional study.

Background: South Africa is facing a convergence of communicable diseases (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). There are limited data about how tobacco use contributes to the burden of these conditions, especially in rural populations.

Methods: We analyzed the associations between current tobacco smoking and four important CDs and NCDs in Vukuzazi, a cross-sectional study of individuals aged 15 years and older conducted between 2018-2020 in a demographic surveillance area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Subclinical tuberculosis linkage to care and completion of treatment following community-based screening in rural South Africa.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB), a leading cause of infectious death, is curable when patients complete a course of multi-drug treatment. Because entry into the TB treatment cascade usually relies on symptomatic individuals seeking care, little is known about linkage to care and completion of treatment in people with subclinical TB identified through community-based screening.

Methods: Participants of the Vukuzazi study, a community-based survey that provided TB screening in the rural uMkhanyakude district of KwaZulu-Natal from May 2018 - March 2020, who had a positive sputum (GeneXpert or Mtb culture, microbiologically-confirmed TB) or a chest x-ray consistent with active TB (radiologically-suggested TB) were referred to the public health system.

Experiences of young mothers with the uptake of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in the Lake endemic region, Kenya.

Background: A substantial proportion of the world population is affected by malaria with 241 million malaria cases reported globally. Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) is an effective chemotherapy but its utilisation has not been optimised. Few studies focus on young mothers and their experiences regarding the optimal uptake of IPTp-SP.

Identification and molecular characterization of DNA in GeneXpert® MTB/RIF ultra-positive, culture-negative sputum from a rural community in South Africa.

This study investigated the presence of () DNA in archived human sputum samples previously collected from residents who reside adjacent to the -endemic Hluhluwe-iMfolozi wildlife park, South Africa (SA). Sixty-eight sputum samples were GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra-positive for complex (MTBC) DNA but culture negative for . Amplification and Sanger sequencing of and genes from DNA extracted from stored heat-inactivated sputum samples confirmed the presence of detectable amounts of MTBC from 20 out of the 68 sputum samples.