Recent Trends on TV White Space Deployments in Africa

In this paper, we presented the effects of Television White Space (TVWS) on digital divide in Africa. The trends in digital divide are found to be wide in most African countries, which are characterized with low internet penetration. Perhaps this is expected because over 60 % of people in Africa reside in the rural area and these areas are characterized with low literacy, poverty level and limited telecommunication infrastructure supports. There have been research efforts and regulations towards the secondary use of TV frequencies. However, findings indicate that there are limited opportunities for such system in Europe: This is due to high internet penetration in Europe, but the situation may be quite different in other part of the world like in Africa. Therefore, the TVWS could be used to provide affordable universal access in rural Africa. The paper also presents some benefits developing countries in Africa will incur from utilizing the TVWS solution. Also, recent trend in the deployment of TVWS and experiences got from African countries that embrace the solution are presented.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i3.1

Persistence of Ebola virus RNA in some body fluids of Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors – the Nigerian experience

Introduction: Ebola virus (EBOV) has been shown to persist in some body fluids of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) survivors with implication for future transmission particularly in Nigeria where EVD was experienced for the first time in 2014. Thus, this paper was aimed at providing information on the duration of persistence of EBOV in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Ten consenting EVD survivors were enrolled. Baseline specimens; urine and semen (males), urine and high vaginal swab (HVS) (females) were obtained within one month after discharge from the Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) and subsequently every fortnight. Samples were analyzed using quantitative Real-Star Filovirus Screen RT-PCR kit 1.0 at the National Reference Laboratory in Lagos.Results: Ten EVD survivors comprising 4 (40%) males and 6 (60%) females with age ranges of 28 to >33 years (mean age: 33.0 ± 6.9 years) were evaluated. EBOV RNA was not detected in the urine of all the participants and HVS from the females. However, EBOV RNA was detected in the semen of all 4 (100%) male participants at baseline, and at 2 months after discharge from the ETC. Two men were still positive for EBOV RNA 4 months after discharge from the ETC despite persistent negative vireamia. Conclusions: Our data confirm that a negative viremia in the convalescent period is not predictive of the absence of the virus in semen. Despite an early clearance of the virus from the urine and HVS, there was persistence of EBOV RNA in semen of male survivors 4 months after recovery