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Mycobacterium kansasii (M. kansasii) is a major cause of non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease in the South African gold-mining workforce, but the source of infection and molecular epidemiology are unknown. This study investigated the presence of M. kansasii in gold and coal mine and associated hostel water supplies and compared the genetic diversity of clinical and environmental isolates of M. kansasii. Five M. kansasii and ten other potentially pathogenic mycobacteria were cultured mainly from showerhead biofilms. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction analysis of the hsp65 gene on 196 clinical and environmental M. kansasii isolates revealed 160 subtype I, eight subtype II and six subtype IV strains. Twenty-two isolates did not show the typical M. kansasii restriction patterns, suggesting that these isolates may represent new subtypes of M. kansasii. In contrast to the clonal population structure found amongst the subtype I isolates from studies in other countries, DNA fingerprinting of 114 clinical and three environmental subtype I isolates demonstrated genetic diversity amongst the isolates. This study demonstrated that showerheads are possible sources of M. kansasii and other pathogenic non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection in a gold-mining region, that subtype I is the major clinical isolate of M. kansasii strain and that this subtype exhibits genetic diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses declaration of African government regarding availability of insulin to every resident of Africa so as to reduce the risk of diabetes causing. Topics discussed include need of availability of insulin to people who cannot afford it; availability of medical supplies; and monitoring of patients.

The article discusses diagnosis of diabetic foot complications caused due to diabetes that may lead to preventable loss of limbs and lives. Topics discussed include implementation of evidence informed interprofessional diabetic foot care; prevention of diabetic foot complications by availability of pressure offloading devices; and need for early treatment of surface critical colonization.

Most investigations into the distribution of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have focused exclusively on bloodborne infections within individual health care institutions for shorter time periods. This has limited the analysis of a community-spread pathogen to snapshots within the hospital domain. Therefore, in this study we determined the demographic and geographical patterns of MRSA infections and their fluctuation in 10 years within all public hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa. A retrospective analysis of S. aureus samples was done by deduplicating samples in two groups. The sample groups were placed into subsets with respect to demographic and geographical fields and compared across the studied period. Logistic regression was utilized to determine odds ratios for resistant infections in univariate and multivariable configurations. A total of 66,071 unique infectious events were identified from the 148,065 samples received over a 10-year period, out of which 14,356 were identified as bacteremia. MRSA bacteremia rates in Gauteng peaked in 2015 and have since decreased. Within Gauteng, metropolitan areas have the greatest burden of MRSA with children under 5 years of age and males being most affected. Medical wards have the highest S. aureus bacteremia rates, while intensive care units have the highest MRSA bacteremia rates. Patient age, admitting ward, and geographical district are the most important associated factors of resistance. MRSA acquisition rates have shown tremendous growth since 2009 but have since spiked and subsequently decreased. This may be due to the initiation of the National Guidelines on Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infectious Disease Surveillance. Further studies to determine the trajectory of infections are required to support these claims. IMPORTANCE S. aureus is the leading cause of a variety of devastating clinical conditions, including infective endocarditis, bacteremia, and pleuropulmonary infections. It is an important pathogen responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality. MRSA is a variant of interest originally responsible for difficult to treat hospital-acquired infections that has since achieved community spread throughout the world. Most investigations into the distribution of MRSA have focused exclusively on bloodborne infections within individual health care institutions for shorter periods. This has limited the analysis of a community-spread pathogen to snapshots within the hospital domain. This study sought to determine the demographic and geographical patterns of MRSA infections as well as how these have fluctuated over time within all public hospitals. This will also help in understanding the epidemiology and resistance trends of S. aureus, which will help clinicians to understand the clinical prospective and policy makers to design guidelines and strategies for treating such infections., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.