We invite you to read the latest edition of our EFFECT newsletter at the link below: sway.cloud.microsoft/rLBzCsGpXSO1...

EFFECT News: Edition 8 KM

We are delighted to announce that we have successfully reached our recruitment target.

sway.cloud.microsoft

Several members of our trial team participated in this mycology training workshop, hosted by @exeter.ac.uk MMC in collaboration with UCT, both as faculty and delegates. It was an excellent opportunity for learning, teaching and networking! news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...

Tackling deadly fungal threats: Global training empowers clinicians and lab technicians

Twenty-four clinicians and laboratory technicians have enrolled in a bespoke training programme designed to strengthen the diagnosis and treatment of deadly fungal diseases. With infections soaring gl...

news.exeter.ac.uk

#AMR #Klebsiella cause >100,000 neonatal deaths globally each year. Our new preprint shows more than half of #Klebsiella pneumoniae neonatal sepsis cases in African and South Asian are nosocomial, acquired through transmission in neonatal units. #WAAW doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The meta-analysis was led by @erkison.bsky.social, with 60 wonderful co-authors contributing data, ideas and interpretations, including @neleshg.bsky.social @pjplanet@bsky.social @ahmedmicrobes.bsky.social @evaheinz7.bsky.social @kelwyres.bsky.social and many others not on BlueSky

@neleshg.bsky.social and the Baby GERMS-South Africa team explored transmission clusters of ESKAPE pathogens across 6 South African hospitals, and identified large outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant #Klebsiella ST152 and Acinetobacter baumannii ST1 & ST2 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Enhanced detection of neonatal invasive infection clusters in South Africa using epidemiological and genomic surveillance data

Introduction Invasive bacterial infections, particularly those caused by the ESKAPE group, account for a substantial proportion of neonatal deaths in low- and middle-income countries, yet the contribu...

medrxiv.org

🎉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/...

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

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/...

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...

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)

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

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.

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

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-...

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.

nytimes.com

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

@SAHIVSoc@sahivsoc.bsky.social · last yr.

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

Great updates and learning at the histoplasmosis working group meeting at the tail end of ISHAM triennial conference And new targets will be set...

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?

thenakedscientists.com

Congratulations Lottie

"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 · last yr.

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-...

"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.

statnews.com

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

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...

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."

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

Ilan Schwartz@germhuntermd.bsky.social · last yr.

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

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

@miamalan.bsky.social · last yr.

$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-...

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

Nice cover of Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, highlighting the still-mysterious fungal kingdom, a small % of which causes deadly human infections "Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom" -https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/5/ac-3105_article

Recruiting inpatients living w/ HIV into ADVANCE GERMS-SA cohort study in Johannesburg @raewake.bsky.social Screened 2000, enrolled >500 so far. Primary outcome: incidence severe infections AHD-associated sepsis & AMR summarised in a new @mbio.bsky.social mGem: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

mGem: Sepsis and antimicrobial resistance in the context of advanced HIV disease | mBio

People with advanced HIV disease (AHD; defined among adults as a CD4 cell count &lt;200 cells/µL or a World Health Organization [WHO] stage 3 or 4 clinical event) are at increased risk of hospitalizat...

journals.asm.org