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S. Mehtar

About S. Mehtar
MBBS, FRC Path (UK), FCPath (Micro) (SA), MD (Eng)
Head of Academic Unit for Infection Prevention and Control
Tygerberg Hospital & Stellenbosch University

Role(s) / Profession(s)

Academic

Organization

Stellenbosch University
Website: http://www.sun.ac.za/ Type: Academic Institution Country: South Africa About: Stellenbosch University is recognized as one of the four top research universities in South Africa. It takes pride in the fact that it has one of the country’s highest proportions of postgraduate students of which almost ten percent are international students. Since its beginning in 1866 when it first opened its doors with about 500 students and 39 lecturers, the University has grown into an internationally recognized institution with more than 23 000 students, 800 lecturers and some 50 research and service bodies. According to Prof. Jimmy Volmink, Research Director at the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), "its research vision is to be recognized as an indispensable leader in the field of health sciences in Africa and for the contribution it makes internationally." GHDonline Member Patrick McVay adds that “during the past year considerable progress has been made towards realizing this vision. The trend in the number of journal articles, books or book chapters produced by the FHS staff in recent years has been consistently upwards. During 2007, members of the Faculty published cutting edge research in a number of high priority areas which has already had an impact on health policy and practice locally, as well as globally. Examples include work on the molecular mechanisms of XDR-TB, methods for detecting drug-resistant HIV strains, the use of antiretroviral therapy in infants and the incidence of disseminated BCG disease in HIV infected infants, to name only a few.”

Work Location(s)

South Africa

S.'s Communities

TB Infection Control

Language(s)

Recent Contributions

S. Mehtar started a discussion "Natural Ventilation of Health Care Facilities" in the TB Infection Control community.

Hello I would love to read this publication but I cannot seem to open it. Shaheen
S. Mehtar started a discussion "What protection with surgical masks and N95 respirators for healthcare workers?" in the TB Infection Control community.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for accurate information on the following: - When a healthcare worker wears a surgical mask, how much reduction occurs in the infectious particles inhaled by the person wearing the mask when faced with a case which is not wearing one? This obviously differs by distance from the source but is there a graph one can refer to? How long does this protection last? I know that for ...
S. Mehtar started a discussion ""Whirly Bird" ventilation" in the TB Infection Control community.

Thankyou for the pictures. The Wirly bird is obviously the answer- it looks great. Thanks Shaheen Prof Shaheen Mehtar MBBS, FRC Path (UK), FCPath (Micro) (SA), MD (Eng) Head of Academic Unit for Infection Prevention and Control Tygerberg Hospital & Stellenbosch Uni PO Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, Cape Town
S. Mehtar replied to "Infectious Dose of TB" in the TB Infection Control community.

Thank you Dr Nortey. It would really help if you could contribute your experience on the ground so that the group can get a better idea of what is happening globally, rather than in well resourced countries. Then perhaps through this discussion one could come to some sensible and practical IPC measures that may improve patient care and protection of healthcare workers concentrating on principles rather than adopting practices from other countries that do not ...
S. Mehtar replied to "Is N95 safe for SARS or avian influenza?" in the TB Infection Control community.

Dear All At Tygerberg Hospital (Cape Town) the IPC recommendations are as follows In admissions area (we see around 18 new cases a week on average) in the hospital we recommend as part of the IPC protocol (negative ventilation etc)- bearing in mind the cost of N95s a) Triage as soon as possible for all those presenting with a cough b) Staff wear an ordinary surgical mask when dealing with these patients On the wards ...

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