Analysis is the muse of illness management.
A illness with no analysis is a battle fought at the hours of darkness. With out exact diagnostic instruments, remedy selections turn out to be guesswork, prevention efforts lack path and illness management stays ineffective. This was the core message of Prof Oriel Thekisoe’s inaugural lecture on the North-West College (NWU).
“Analysis is the muse of illness management,” mentioned Prof Thekisoe throughout his lecture on 6 March 2025 on the Potchefstroom Campus. “It determines the effectiveness of remedy and guides prevention methods.”
Prof Thekisoe, a molecular biologist within the topic group Zoology, outlined how diagnostics performs a job at each stage of illness management. Medical indicators and signs function an preliminary indicator, however laboratory checks verify the presence of infectious brokers in people and animals. Whereas conventional strategies equivalent to microscopy and serological assays are nonetheless broadly used, developments in DNA-based applied sciences have improved accuracy and sensitivity.
“Microscopy continues to be the mainstay of diagnostics, however DNA-based assays supply extra precision,” he mentioned. “Methods like polymerase chain response (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) permit for early detection.”
His analysis has contributed to creating DNA-based diagnostic assays focusing on particular gene fragments of varied ailments, together with trypanosomosis, theileriosis and Newcastle illness. These applied sciences have implications for large-scale epidemiological research, vaccination programmes and quarantine measures.
Prof Thekisoe emphasised that efficient illness management requires steady diagnostic monitoring. After remedy, follow-up diagnostics assess the success of interventions. Prevention methods, equivalent to vaccination campaigns, additionally depend on diagnostics to measure influence.
“With out diagnostics, we’re blind in our efforts to regulate illness,” he mentioned. “It’s the instrument that permits knowledgeable decision-making.”
The lecture highlighted collaborations with researchers engaged on bettering diagnostic accuracy for human and animal ailments. These partnerships have superior the event of diagnostic instruments for circumstances equivalent to bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis.
As world well being threats evolve, the necessity for sturdy diagnostic techniques is amplified. “Funding in diagnostic innovation is funding in illness management,” mentioned Prof Thekisoe. “It is step one in direction of efficient well being administration.”