UCT and University of Aberdeen fight fungal infections in Africa
The world’s first international research centre for tackling fungal infections — which kill about 1.3-million people globally every year — opened at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on Friday. The majority of deaths related to fungal infections are in Africa‚ particularly sub-Saharan Africa where about 50% of deaths are caused by invasive fungal infections. In 2008‚ 1-million cases of cryptococcal meningitis were reported in patients with HIV‚ resulting in more than 500,000 related deaths‚ UCT said in a statement on Friday. Prof Mark Nicol‚ head of UCT’s division of medical microbiology in the department of pathology‚ said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to develop a centre of excellence for [researching] fungal infections on the African continent. We will have the opportunity to extend the pioneering clinical research on fungal infections taking place at UCT by collaborating with scientists studying the biology and immunology of fungal infections at the world-leading centre [at ...
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