We surveyed households in rural and urban areas of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, to assess the exposure of the inhabitants to fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)), a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium verticillioides. In southern African regions maize, used as a staple food by the population, is prone to F. verticillioides infection. Furthermore, high levels of FB(1) in maize have been associated with esophageal ...

The morphological characteristics of the humeral bone has been investigated in recent times with studies showing varying degrees of sexual dimorphism. Osteologists and forensic scientists have shown that sex determination methods based on skeletal measurements are population specific, and these population-specific variations are present in many body dimensions. The present study aims to establi...

Older people need greater access to good eye care: 82% of people living with blindness worldwide are over 50, even though they only represent 19% of the world’s population.1 In South Africa, the 80% of people who are unable to afford expensive private medical insurance are reliant on the state to provide affordable health care.2 Older people have access to primary health clinics in the communit...

Recent data and material obtained from northern KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and Maputo Bay (Mozambique) have provided support for the description of a new species of the genus Lamellothyrea Krikken, 1980. The genus previously included only one species, L. descarpentriesi, with uncertain and poorly defined type locality, i.e. "Transvaal". It is now evident that two different species are actuall...

We examined specimens from all eleven described species of African Dainty Frogs, Cacosternum. Advertisement calls, 16S and tyr sequences were obtained from voucher specimens of all known species plus undescribed taxa. A phylogenetic analysis indicated that there were 15 species. We describe four new species from South Africa that can be diagnosed by their advertisement calls: Cacosternum aggest...

This report, covering the two year period 1997 to 1998, is an update of previous reports published in the Proceedings of SEARG meetings which took place in Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The overall rabies situation in South Africa has changed very little and the disease remains endemic throughout the country. Four major vectors have been identified, namely the domestic dog, the yell...

OBJECTIVE To identify demographic and clinical risk factors associated with mortality after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a cohort of human immunodeficiency (HIV) infected children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of 537 children initiating antiretroviral therapy at McCord Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data were extra...

1076 Amid the dire statistics showing a deadly resurgence of malaria, a notable success has been scored in South Africa. In KwaZulu–Natal province, malaria cases increased from about 600 in 1991–1992 to more than 30,000 by 1999–2000 [1]. Then, after household spraying with DDT was implemented, and the new antimalarial combination artemether-lumefantrine (AL) was widely deployed (Figure 1), case...