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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · 16d

🎉to Charlotte Rabault - she published this after a 6-month fellowship in Joburg

In patients aged >90 days, prior antifungal use was associated with non-susceptible Candida bloodstream infection (OR 2.02). In young infants, hospital transmission was more influential.

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Sep 9

Abstracts, Clinical Conundrums and FungArt for the Fungal Update conference in London (March 2026) are all now open for submission: mycologyconference.co.uk/abstracts/

Abstracts – Fungal Update: Mycology Conference

mycologyconference.co.uk

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · Aug 5

Genomic epidemiology of Histoplasma in Africa

Rutendo Mapingo ... @neleshg.bsky.social Daniel Matute

Three genetically distinct lineages identified among African Histoplasma isolates

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Phylogenetic tree and Principle Component Analysis of African histoplasma isolates

Morphological characteristics of the Histoplasma Africa samples. We show the morphology of isolate SA1704, but all other isolates show similar characteristics. (A) Morphology of a 3-week-old Africa isolate growing on a plate of Sabouraud dextrose agar at 25°C. (B) Light microscope slide stained with lactophenol blue showing the mycelial stage of Histoplasma Africa. (C) A similarly prepared slide for T-3-1 which belongs to H. ohiense. (D) Culture of a 2-week-old Africa growing on brain heart infusion agar at 35°C. (E) Slide of electron microscopy image of a 2-week-old Africa (SA0297) growing on Sabouraud dextrose agar at 25°C showing the microconidia of mold form (magnification = ×2,000, extra high tension = 5.00 kV, working distance = 9.2 mm, Signal A = SE2, bar 10 µm). (F) Electron microscopy image of a 2-week-old Hcf (SA20VMK) growing on Sabouraud dextrose agar at 25°C showing a tuberculate macroconidium (magnification = x2,000, EHT = 5.00 kV, WD = 9.2 mm, Signal A = SE2, bar 10 µm).

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Jul 17

Results from our CAST-NET cohort study published. Excellent national coverage of cryptococcal antigen screening in SA but real challenges to act on CrAg+ results to exclude meningitis and dispense pre-emptive antifungals

journals.lww.com/jaids/abstra...

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Jul 14

Jayne Ellis presenting data from our cohort with CD4 <100 undergoing CrAg screening in SA at #IAS2025 (poster 2803)

59% (86/146) had CMV viraemia - strongly & independently associated with ⬆️mortality, more than quadrupling odds of death at 6-months (adjusted OR 4.02, 95%CI 1.27-12.7)

Cumulative 6-month mortality amongst 146 adults with advanced HIV disease, stratified by baseline CMV viraemia status

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Jul 14

During 2016–2023, among 21,195 US patients who tested positive for Candida auris skin colonisation, 6.9% were subsequently found to have a positive clinical specimen, 2.8% from blood

Probably an underestimate but useful to know

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

Progression from <em>Candida auris</em> Colonization Screening to Clinical Case Status, United States, 2016–2023

<em>C. auris</em> Colonization Screening to Clinical Case

wwwnc.cdc.gov

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Kat Holt @katholt.bsky.social · Jul 1

We brought together teams from 13 neonatal sepsis surveillance studies, conducted across 35 sites in South Asia and Africa, to pool data and estimate prevalence of capsule and O types amongst #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing sepsis in newborns, using Bayesian modelling.

map showing the location of countries included in the study: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Kat Holt @katholt.bsky.social · Jul 1

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against 70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could aver...

doi.org

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Jun 27

Congrats to Serisha Naicker & our 🌍CryptoADAPT team
at Wits, UP, SUN, Imperial, CISM, UZ, Duke for the new @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant

Excited to dig into the environmental diversity of Cryptococcus in Africa

www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-...

2025-06 - Investigating fungi and what makes them dangerous - Wits University

www.wits.ac.za

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

AVAC @avac.org · Jun 17

Must read from @stephanienolen.bsky.social @nytimes.com:

From #SouthAfrica Built a Medical Research Powerhouse. Trump Cuts Have Demolished It. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/h...

South Africa Built a Medical Research Powerhouse. Trump Cuts Have Demolished It.

www.nytimes.com

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Jun 4

Hosted by a full panel of trial investigators from the @effecttrial.bsky.social

@SAHIVSoc @sahivsoc.bsky.social · Jun 3

Join us for our next CME webinar focusing on Cryptococcal Case-Based Discussions. Register here bit.ly/3FIJ5Ql for Thursday and here bit.ly/4569GRU for Tuesday
@neleshg.bsky.social #HIVCare

Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 25

Great updates and learning at the histoplasmosis working group meeting at the tail end of ISHAM triennial conference

And new targets will be set...

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 20

Great to contribute to this week's Naked Scientist podcast on the rising tide of fungal diseases

www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/nak...

The rising tide of fungal diseases

Are we ready to fight off a new world of infections?

www.thenakedscientists.com

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 20

Congratulations Lottie

Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 15

"Considering this conflicting evidence, there is equipoise to support a clinical trial in which persons with AHD without overt symptoms suggestive of histoplasmosis and with Histoplasma antigenuria are randomized to pre-emptive antifungal therapy or to observation."

Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · May 15

Histoplasmosis remains an important cause of AIDS-related deaths in many regions

Histoplasma antigen tests are now cheap, accessible, and can be done at POC

Are such assays ready to be used for routine screening of patients with advanced HIV?

We have thoughts 🤔

🔓 academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

Histoplasma antigen screening in advanced HIV disease

Ilan S Schwartz, Alessandro C Pasqualotto; Histoplasma antigen screening in advanced HIV disease, Clinical Infectious Diseases, , ciaf238, https://doi.org/

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · May 14

"How can WHO be expected to serve the whole world on the same budget as one hospital in a mid-sized European city?"

www.statnews.com/2025/05/14/w...

WHO trims top management ranks amid financial crunch

The WHO, which faces an extraordinary financial crunch in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the agency, has dramatically trimmed its top management.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · May 8

Thanks for sharing.

There was also a recent State of the Art review in CID on the topic academic.oup.com/cid/article/...

State-of-the-Art Review: Use of Antimicrobials at the End of Life

Abstract. Navigating antibiotics at the end of life is a challenge for infectious disease (ID) physicians who remain deeply committed to providing patient-

academic.oup.com

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 8

This recent article has really resonated with me - www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Antimicrobials in serious illness and end-of-life care: lifting the veil of silence

Global rates of antimicrobial consumption increased by 65% between 2000 and 2015, by 16% between 2016 and 2023, and are estimated to increase by an additional 52% by 2030. Antimicrobial use and misuse...

www.thelancet.com

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 8

Her clinical team was reluctant to talk to us about the futility of curative treatment or end-of-life care. They wanted to continue as though she would walk out of hospital.

This didn't make sense. We wanted her to be comfortable, and not to end her life in a busy noisy bright surgical ICU.

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · May 8

In 2008, my wonderful 84-year-old grandmother died in hospital with perforated diverticulitis. I was a newly-qualified clinical microbiologist then. When it became clear that she wouldn't recover, I asked for her to be transferred out of ICU, to receive palliative care and to stop antibiotics...

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Apr 30

Bad news...

"A draft budget for the department [HHS], obtained by The New York Times, proposes axing two journals published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Emerging Infectious Diseases and Preventing Chronic Disease."

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Clinical Infectious Diseases @cidjournal.bsky.social · Apr 26

Plasma Microbial Cell-free DNA Metagenomic Sequencing for Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Diseases Among High-risk Outpatient and Inpatient Immunocompromised Hosts

#IDSky

Plasma Microbial Cell-free DNA Metagenomic Sequencing for Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Diseases Among High-risk Outpatient and Inpatient Immuno

New and minimally invasive tools to aid the diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases (IFD) are urgently needed as the immunocompromised population at highest risk increases. Advancements in molecular technology have rendered new diagnostics more readily available for clinical use.

bit.ly

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Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Apr 26

Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · Apr 26

Cryptococcal Meningitis Treatment Beyond HIV: Recognizing the need for Individualized Immune-Based Strategies

Hyunah Yoon, Liise-anne Pirofsky, @drboulware.bsky.social

In non-HIV-associated CM, ⬇️ing immunosuppression --> ⬆️ inflammation --> 🧠 damage.

academic.oup.com/cid/advance-... #TxID #IDSky

A line graph illustrating immunosuppressive drug intensity and immune cell recovery (CD4+ T, B and NK cells) over months following kidney transplantation, highlighting a window of heightened cryptococcal disease risk.

Two parabola diagrams comparing HIV-associated cryptococcal damage and non-HIV transplant-associated damage. In both settings, too little or too much immune response can result in host damage (left and right arms of the parabola). However, in non-HIV transplant patients, the overall position on the parabola is less predictable, due to the heterogeneous effects of immunosuppressive medications before and during cryptococcal infection.

Nelesh Govender @neleshg.bsky.social · Apr 24

It's staggering what has unravelled in a matter of months

miamalan.bsky.social @miamalan.bsky.social · Apr 24

$350-million or R6.65-billion, which comes to 70% of all medical research in SA. That's how much research the #NIH funds in SA, when direct grants, subgrants and network grants are combined. bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

We do the sums: The NIH funds $350-million (R6.65-billion) of research in SA - Bhekisisa

R6.65-billion — or $350-million. That’s how much South Africa receives in annual funding from the US government’s National Institutes of Health. If the country loses all of its NIH funding, the countr...

bhekisisa.org

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Reposted by Nelesh Govender

Wellcome Trust @wellcometrust.bsky.social · Apr 24

Fungi can protect the environment, grow food and even develop new medicines. 🍄

But they can also cause disease.

As climate change spreads pathogenic fungi to new places, more people worldwide will be at risk.

Learn more in our explainer ⤵️
wellcome.org/news/will-cl...

Will climate change lead to more fungal infections? | News | Wellcome

Fungi can keep us healthy or cause disease. As climate change drives fungi to adapt, learn how we can harness the benefits and tackle the threats.

wellcome.org

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