- The Centre works on preventing life-threatening fungal diseases of public health importance in South Africa
- Cryptococcal meningitis, a deadly brain infection that affects persons living with advanced HIV disease (AIDS)
- Other life-threatening opportunistic fungal infections that occur with AIDS
- Candidaemia, a healthcare-associated bloodstream infection that occurs among critically-ill patients and patients with certain cancers
- Invasive and chronic infections caused by Aspergillus
- The Centre led efforts to implement and evaluate a laboratory-based reflex cryptococcal antigen screening programme across South Africa. This programme aims to prevent deaths associated with cryptococcal meningitis.
- CHARM is involved in developing South African and international clinical guidelines for management of fungal infections
- The Centre offers a specialised mycology reference service to diagnostic medical laboratories, including phenotypic and sequence-based identification of unusual or difficult-to-identify fungi and antifungal susceptibility testing of yeasts and moulds
- Please consult the NICD handbook for a list of tests that are offered
- The Centre’s research activities are focused on developing and validating new diagnostic assays and defining risk factors for fungal diseases and antifungal drug resistance
- The mycology reference laboratory holds a large collection of pathogenic fungi of medical importance
