BackgroundAs South Africa strives to achieve malaria elimination by 2018 (zero local cases) the country needs to strengthen its disease surveillance system by reducing the timeliness from case diagnosis to notification of key stakeholders in the malaria programme. This study evaluated the feasibility of a 24-h mobile reporting system, designed for speeding up malaria notifications, from primary healthcare facilities to district, provincial, and national malaria programmes in South Africa.MethodsA prospective descriptive study utilizing primary data collected from structured interviews with healthcare workers in public healthcare facilities was used to compare two reporting systems (24-h mobile reporting system and the paper-based reporting system) in malaria endemic provinces (Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal). Data on completeness of reporting, simplicity, user acceptability and technical limitations were analysed. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the time difference between the two reporting systems.ResultsThere were 1819 cases of malaria reported through the paper-based system, and 63.2% (1149) of those cases were also reported through the 24-h mobile reporting system. Out of the 272 healthcare workers who were interviewed, 40% (108) had seen malaria patients and reported a case through the 24-h mobile reporting system. The median time for cases to be reported through the 24-h mobile reporting system was significantly shorter at < 1 day (range < 1 to 31 days) compared to the paper-based system at 3 days (range 2 to > 39 days) (p < 0.001). It was found that 26% (28) were able to use the system and send reports within 2 min, 94% (256) were willing to continue to use the system. Of the 108 healthcare workers who reported a case, 18.5% (20) experienced network challenges.ConclusionsThe 24-h mobile reporting system is user friendly and trained healthcare workers are willing to use the system, despite network limitations. The 24-h mobile reporting system reduces the time required for diagnosed cases to be notified by the health care facility to district, provincial and national levels. The 24-h mobile reporting system is a feasible option for malaria notification in South Africa and will assist with early detection of malaria outbreaks.

The isolates were sub cultured, DNA isolated and Sanger sequencing performed on the amplified PCR product. Blast n was performed at different score ad E-value parameters for all positive sequences against the whole NCBI nr/nt data base. Molecular phylogentic analysis with various serogroups of N.meningitides was performed by using MEGA 6 software package. Results: Of the 274 nasopharyngeal swabs, 10 (3.6%) grew Neisseria. DNA isolation and Sanger sequencing was performed on the amplified PCR product and sequence analysis was carried out. Blast analysis of all sequenced samples was performed against the whole NCBI-nr/nt database and within the Dataset. On molecular testing and sequence analysis, 4 of the samples were found to be N. meningitidis whereas one had close similarity to N. meningitidis. Only 2 students reported history of intimate kissing in the past 2 weeks and one had a history of using antibiotics. The isolates on Blast and molecular phlogeny analysis bore homology to serogroup 'B (Fig 1). Evolutionary relationship of N.meningitidis with different published serogroups Conclusion: Neisseria meningitides is seen in college freshmen and the potential implications for spread in close shared settings call for appropriate infection control measures. NCBI Blast hits of Sequence ID (Skimsmen0010) against whole NCBI (nr/nt) Data base.