Biography

Olga Shavuka is a Laboratory Technologist at the Group for Research in Infectious Diseases at the University of Namibia School of Medicine. She has worked in tuberculosis research since 2022 and holds an Honours degree in Microbiology. She is currently completing her Master of Science in Medical Microbiology, focusing on transmission analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using whole genome sequencing. Olga's work involves processing tuberculosis samples for drug resistance prediction using targeted next-generation sequencing, aligned with Namibia’s new drug-resistance tuberculosis diagnostic guidelines. She has presented her work at ESM and gave an oral presentation at the Union Conference in 2024.

Expertise

TB Diagnostics
Public Health

Key Impacts

Cross-regional transmission of drug-resistant TB in Namibia: Insights from genomic surveillance

The high clustering rate and the presence of isolates from different regions within the same clusters suggest ongoing cross-regional transmission of DR-TB in Namibia, driven by human mobility. Further investigations are needed to understand the factors contributing to this transmission pattern and guide targeted interventions.

Source: Conference 2024