A teenager’s fascination with tropical viruses

Dr Marieke Brauer
Senior Registrar in Medical Virology, University of Pretoria
MMed: Molecular detection and characterisation of mumps virus in cerebrospinal fluid in a Gauteng laboratory

Under the microscope

Dr Marieke Brauer who is described by her supervisor as an ‘outstanding and dedicated medical practitioner and scientific researcher and a notable expert within certain clinical conditions’, did her internship at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg and joined the National Health Laboratory Services at the University of Pretoria in 2009. Seeing human suffering first hand and needing to help by getting behind the scenes and into the world of research, is what motivated her to choose the laboratory. When not peering through a microscope she enjoys photography, reading and knitting.

A teenager’s fascination with tropical viruses forged an adult scientist colleagues describe as an outstanding and dedicated researcher.

When Dr Marieke Brauer was 16 she heard the words Ebola and Marburg and was instantly drawn to virology, which, she believed, was a field of medicine that promised plenty of research and many exciting developments. She hasn’t been disappointed.

“I enjoy being able to assist colleagues with complicated clinical cases and to educate fellow doctors and other healthcare practitioners. The laboratory plays a pivotal role in diagnosis

and management of patients. Clinicians rely on the laboratory to provide accurate results, which guide them in the care of patients, and pathologists aim to assist their colleagues by guiding them in result interpretation and providing information on medical conditions in their field of expertise.” Dr Brauer’s chosen field of research – the current prevalence of acute mumps CNS infection in South Africa’s largely unvaccinated population – is prompted by the paucity of epidemiological data regarding mumps in South Africa, and the absence of data around central nervous system (CNS) involvement. “Prior to the introduction of the mumps vaccine, mumps was the most common cause of viral encephalitis in many countries.

The vaccine has not been included in the South African National Immunisation Schedule and as a result, mumps surveillance is not prioritised.”

According to the World Health Organization, information on the proportion of meningitis and encephalitis attributable to mumps can help to determine the relative burden of the disease in a country. “Through my research I hope to gather more information on the epidemiology of mumps in the South African setting, which may guide future decisions on appropriate diagnostic testing for mumps in patients presenting with meningitis, and also the possible need to include mumps vaccination in the routine childhood vaccination schedule,” says Dr Brauer.

CNS involvement is the most common extra salivary complication of mumps, with symptomatic meningitis occurring in approximately 15% of cases. Up to 50% of these cases will not present with typical parotid swelling. Diagnosis of acute mumps CNS infection could also prevent the unnecessary continued use of intravenous antibiotics and prolonged hospitalisation.