In Brief | Infectious Diseases Update 9 June 22

Published on MedED: 9 June 2022

This week, there are no further alerts to report for the measles outbreak we reported on last week. We will keep watching and keep you up to date on any developments.

There is an interesting development regarding the Monkeypox outbreak, however. This week 30 prominent scientists wrote an article published in the journal Virology, in which they stated that the continued referral to the disease as an ‘African’ phenomenon was misleading and discriminatory, given there is no clear link back to the continent in the current cases.  Most concerningly, this discrimination is playing out in the media.

Specifically, they argued that the current classification of the MPXV genetic strain only recognises two variants – the West African and the Central African or Congo Basin clade -, but there is no reference to the current global north strain. They put forward an alternative classification which the WHO is said to be considering. We’ll see what next week brings in relation to this debate.

In other matters infectious, there is a new TB testing strategy being rolled out in SA. The health news site Spotlight reported that the strategy will see people who are considered high-risk offered molecular TB tests even if they are asymptomatic. The strategy is referred to as targeted universal testing or TUT, and is said to improve TB detection by 17%. Under the new strategy, these tests will routinely be offered to people living with HIV-AIDS or those living in households where there are diagnosed cases of TB. Given that an estimated 150 000 people go undiagnosed with TB each year, it is hoped that by improving the rate of diagnosis, the tests will significantly improve the outcomes for such people, together with reducing the overall TB burden in the country. The original commentary in the Lancet and the article in Spotlight can be found below.

Access the original articles
 
4. Urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing nomenclature for monkeypox virus Virology virus (Virology)
5. Positive Signs for new TB testing ( Spotlight)
6. Accelerate investment and action to find the missing patients with tuberculosis (The Lancet)