ABOVE: In Masiphumelele township, 80 percent of the population are infected with TB by the time they reach young adulthood.
LINDA NORDLING
In Masiphumelele, an informal settlement of tin shacks, squat brick buildings, and narrow lanes south of Cape Town, 23,000 people go to school, run businesses, sleep, and socialize cheek by jowl. As a result, communicable diseases are rife—especially tuberculosis (TB), which infects around 80 percent of residents by the time they reach adulthood.
A new research facility opened here this month aims to curb TB by studying how it is transmitted in the local community. The R10 million ($700,000 USD) Aerobiology TB Research Facility will allow microbiologists from the University of Cape Town (UCT) to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis captured from the exhaled air of local TB patients.
It will do so using locally developed technology. On the ground floor of the two-story building, TB patients will enter into a ...
