The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB in the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Health Sciences, combines clinical grassroots investigations into TB with sophisticated laboratory research that involves various departments and disciplines within and beyond the university campus. In recent years, the TB crisis in South Africa has been heightened even further by the emergence and spread of the highly transmissible multi- (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of M. tuberculosis. Furthermore, it is estimated that 44% of new TB cases were HIV positive in 2007. Against this background, the urgency of the need for new and improved tools for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB cannot be over-stated. Over the past five years members of the CBTBR have held regular meetings and workshops with provincial health authorities and the South African National TB Programme, particularly regarding the emergence and spread of XDR-TB. Meetings with SANParks and Cape Nature were also held to advise them with regard to TB in wildlife.

Whereas much of the work of the CBTBR entails the development of accurate diagnosis and appropriate therapy for MDR and XDR-TB the centre has also played an active and ongoing role in community outreach and awareness to prevent and treat TB.

Contact Person: Prof Paul van Helden
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Website link: www.tuberculosis.org.za