VN June 2020

Vetnuus | Junie 2020 34 She is said to have had a very likeable, reserved personality and was popular with her fellow students. She qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the Onderstepoort faculty in 1948 andmarried one of her classmates, Vernon Ernest Osborn. According to verbal information obtained from a surviving classmate, the couple decided to embark on a farming venture with Afrikaner cattle in the north-western Transvaal bushveld (now situated in the Limpopo province). Trevor Osborn, an older brother of Vernon who qualified at Onderstepoort in 1942 and practised in Vereeniging, sold his practice in 1950 to join them in their farming enterprise. It has unfortunately not been possible to obtain further information on Mavis and the Osborne brothers. 4. Johanna (Joan) Hendrika Verdurmen Attractive, with a very likeable personality, she was understandably very popular with her classmates. Like her predecessors, Joan was the onlywoman in the class. Shewas amember of theOnderstepoort Class of 1952, but was one of several unexpected victims of an external examiner in her final year, qualifying as a veterinarian early in 1953. Her domestic duties took precedence over early veterinary involvement when she married Murray Bernard Hofmeyr, Rhodes Scholar, gifted cricketer and rugby player and leading South African business personality in the Anglo American stable. The couple retired to a farm in the Knysna area where Joan died in 2008. v Did you Know? Bits and Bobs I Stukkies en Brokkies Sniffer dogs could join battle against COVID-19 Scientists are exploring whether dogs could be used to sniff-out COVID-19 and help curb the spread of the disease. The charity Medical Detection Dogs has already trained canines to detect diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s and bacterial infections. Now it has joined forces with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University – a team which recently proved that dogs could be trained to detect malaria. Together they have begun preparations to intensively train dogs to detect COVID-19. Scientists say that the dogs could be ready in as little as six weeks to help provide a rapid, non-invasive diagnosis towards the tail end of the epidemic. “In principle, we’re sure that dogs could detect COVID-19. We are now looking into how we can safely catch the odour of the virus from patients and present it to the dogs, explained Dr Claire Guest, CEO and Co-Founder of Medical Detection Dogs. The aim is that dogs will be able to screen anyone, including those who are asymptomatic and tell us whether they need to be tested. This would be fast, effective and non-invasive and make Photo: Medical Detection Dogs >>> 35 The first four women..... <<< 33