RESUMO
BACKGROUND: While sustainability has become a universal precept in the development of global health security systems, supporting policies often lack mechanisms to drive policies into regular practice. 'On-paper' norms and regulations are to a great extent upheld by frontline workers who often lack the opportunity to communicate their first-hand experiences to decisionmakers; their role is an often overlooked, yet crucial, aspect of a sustainable global health security landscape. Initiatives and programs developing transdisciplinary professional skills support the increased bidirectional dialogue between these frontline workers and key policy- and decisionmakers which may sustainably narrow the gap between global health security policy design and implementation. METHODS: The International Federation of Biosafety Associations' (IFBA) Global Mentorship Program recruits biosafety and biosecurity champions across Africa to provide local peer mentorship to developing professionals in their geographic region. Mentors and mentees complete structured one year program cycles, where they are provided with written overviews of monthly discussion topics, and attend optional virtual interactive activities. Feedback from African participants of the 2019-2020 program cycle was collected using a virtual Exit Survey, where aspects of program impact and structure were assessed. RESULTS: Following its initial call for applications, the IFBA Global Mentorship Program received considerable interest from professionals across the African continent, particularly in East and North Africa. The pilot program cycle matched a total of 62 individuals from an array of professional disciplines across several regions, 40 of which were located on the African continent. The resulting mentorship pairs shared knowledge, skills, and experiences towards translating policy objectives to action on the front lines. Mentorship pairs embraced multidisciplinary approaches to harmonize health security strategies across the human and animal health sectors. South-to-South mentorship therefore provided mentees with locally relevant support critical to translation of best technical practices to local capacity and work. CONCLUSION: The IFBA's South-to-South Global Mentorship Program has demonstrated its ability to form crucial links between frontline biosafety professionals, laboratory workers, and policy- and decision-makers across several implicated sectors. By supporting regionally relevant peer mentorship programs, the gap between health security policy development and implementation may be narrowed.
RESUMO
Bartonellae are highly adaptive organisms that have the ability to evade the host immune system and cause persistent bacteraemia by occupying the host's erythrocytes. Bartonella spp. is under-studied and health care professionals often misdiagnose Bartonella-related infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the carriage of Bartonella spp. circulating in human and animal populations in Gauteng using culturing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection. A total of 424 human, 98 cat, 179 dog, and 124 wild rodent blood samples were plated onto specialised media and incubated for 7-21 days at 37 ºC in CO2. Culture isolates morphologically similar to Bartonella control strains were confirmed by PCR and sequenced to determine species. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from all blood samples and tested by nested PCR. Bartonella could only be cultured from the cat and rodent specimens. Cat isolates were > 99% similar to Bartonella henselae URBHLIE 9, previously isolated from an endocarditis patient, and rat isolates were > 98% similar to either RN24BJ (candidus 'Bartonella thailandensis') or RN28BJ, previously isolated from rodents in China. The PCR prevalences were 22.5% in HIV-positive patients, 9.5% in clinically healthy volunteers, 23.5% in cats, 9% in dogs and 25% in rodents. Findings of this study have important implications for HIV-positive patients.
