Helen Cox

Helen Cox started a discussion "Drug resistant tuberculosis and HIV infection: What can we do NOW? Satellite session @ IAS conference, Cape Town July 2009" in the MDR-TB Treatment & Prevention community.

Drug resistant tuberculosis and HIV infection: What can we do NOW? Host: Médecins sans Frontières, South Africa (Doctors without Borders) Satellite meeting at IAS Conference, Cape Town 14:45 – 16:45, Sunday 19th July 2009 Session room 2, CTICC (IAS conference venue) Drug resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is emerging as a significant threat globally and particularly in settings with high HIV prevalence. There are now an estimated 14,000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) emerging each year in ...

Helen Cox replied to "Quality of certain N95 respirators" in the TB Infection Control community.

Dear all, We have seen these masks in use here in South Africa. While we did not verify whether they are actually certified or not, we recommended that they not be used based on a poor seal and weak elastic. Staff report that they are more comfortable than other certified masks, but this is based on the lack of a tight fit. Regards, Helen Cox Epidemiologist Burnet Institute, MSF, South Africa

Helen Cox replied to "World TB Day: What are you doing? Post your photos and news" in the MDR-TB Treatment & Prevention community.

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), in collaboration with the City of Cape Town and the Western cape province have released a report describing the decentralized model of care for drug resistant TB implemented in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. The report describes the model of care as implemented, the principles on which implementation is based and describes key successes to date. These include: improved case detection with significantly increased numbers of patients initiating appropriate second-line therapy, the majority ...

Helen Cox replied to "Problems with ultraviolet air disinfection in high burden settings" in the TB Infection Control community.

Dear all, There is an excellent study showing the impact of UVGI in reducing TB transmission published by Escombe et al in 2009. A 50% reduction in TB transmission was demonstrated using the guinea pig model with UVGI. Reference Escombe et al Upper-room ultraviolet light and negative air ionization to prevent tuberculosis transmission. PLoS Medicine 6(3), March 2009. Best, Dr Helen Cox Médecins Sans Frontières Town One Properties - Site B Sulani Drive, Khayelitsha Cape ...

Helen Cox replied to "Naturally ventilated Sputum Induction booth" in the TB Infection Control community.

Good discussion, thanks. I would be cautious about using water jets to clean areas as there may be a risk of generating aerosols. There are some reports of TB transmission to zoo staff using high pressure water jets to clean animal enclosures. Regards, Helen Dr Helen Cox Médecins Sans Frontières Town One Properties - Site B Sulani Drive, Khayelitsha Cape Town, South Africa Tel +27(0) 21 364 5490 Cell +27 (0)767 169 702 Fax +27 ...