Scientists set up fungal disease centre

● Centre to open in Cape Town to tackle diseases which kill 1.3m people each year

A centre described as the world’s first international base for tackling deadly fungal infections is being set up in South Africa with the help of Uk-based researchers.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen are establishing the £600,000 centre at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Fungal infections kill around 1.3 million people around the world each year, with the majority of deaths happening in Africa, particularly subsaharan Africa.

In that part of the world, around half of the people diagnosed with invasive fun- gal infections die as a result, claiming 600,000 to one million lives annually.

The Scottish university has announced that its Aberdeen Fungal Group (AFG), is to establish the world’s first research centre focused on tackling these diseases in Africa.

The University of Aberdeen Afgrica Unit will be based at UCT’S Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, headed by Professor Valerie Mizrahi.

University bosses said the unit will give the group a centre of operations in Africa where they can work with UCT experts to establish research programmes.

Professor Gordon Brown of AFG, who is leading the setup of the unit, said: “Fungal infections are understudied and under-diagnosed compared with other infectious diseases, despite their contribution to so many deaths every year.

“Fungal infections kill more people in Africa than anywhere else on the planet. The Afgrica Unit is a unique opportunity to address the urgent need to improve basic knowledge and clinical management

PROF GORDON BROWN of fungal infections in Africa.

“This research and training centre gives us a foothold in Africa and the opportunity to collaborate with our colleagues at UCT to create a unique facility that will advance research to combat fungal killers, and just as importantly, to train more African experts specialising in this area.”

Professor Bongani Mayosi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT, said: “The establishment of the Afgrica Unit in the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine will enhance the excellent clinical and basic research that is taking placed on cryptococcal meningitis and other fungal diseases in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

“This initiative will also contribute to the training of a new generation of African scientific leaders, who will produce high-quality research to combat the scourge of fungal infections in Africa.”

“Fungal infections are under-studied and under-diagnosed compared with other infectious diseases”