New-onset seizures in patients with immunodeficiency virus infection in Bobo-Dioulasso Hospital (Burkina Faso)

Seizures are common in advanced stages of immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. HIV-infected outpatients and inpatients in the national hospital in Bobo-Dioulasso among whom seizures occurred had been recruited over four years. There were mainly male (30/13) with an average age of 35 years with extremes ranging from 22 to 60 years. New-onset generalised seizures occurred in all cases of cryptococcal meningitis or partial motor secondary generalised in 64% among patients with suspected cerebral toxoplasmosis due to the efficiency of the treatment of the antitoxoplasmic proof. Identified causes such as suspected cerebral toxoplasmosis (65%), suspected tuberculous meningitis (7%) as CSF culture is not available, cryptococcal meningitis (16%) were found in this study. In four cases among 43 patients, no identified causes could be determined. CD4 lymphocytes count which was available in 24 patients was under 200/41 in 74% of the cases. This study indicates clearly that seizures in young adults are strongly associated with focal brain lesions and cerebral toxoplasmosis is becoming an important cause of seizure in tropical area. This should imply a screening of toxoplasmosis with new-onset seizure in young people.     

Fecal Excretion of Mycobacterium leprae,Burkina Faso

Mycobacterium leprae was detected by optical microscopy, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and molecular detection in feces collected for the diagnosis of Entamoeba coli enteritis in a leprosy patient in Burkina Faso. This observation raises questions about the role of fecal excretion of M. leprae in the natural history and diagnosis of leprosy.     

Understanding Inequities in Child Vaccination Rates among the Urban Poor: Evidence from Nairobi and Ouagadougou Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems

Studies on informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa have questioned the health benefits of urban residence, but this should not suggest that informal settlements (within cities and across cities and/or countries) are homogeneous. They vary in terms of poverty, pollution, overcrowding, criminality, and social exclusion. Moreover, while some informal settlements completely lack public services, others have access to health facilities, sewers, running water, and electricity. There are few comparative studies that have looked at informal settlements across countries accounting for these contextual nuances. In this paper, we comparatively examine the differences in child vaccination rates between Nairobi and Ouagadougou’s informal settlements. We further investigate whether the identified differences are related to the differences in demographic and socioeconomic composition between the two settings. We use data from the Ouagadougou and Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs), which are the only two urban-based HDSSs in Africa. The results show that children in the slums of Nairobi are less vaccinated than children in the informal settlements in Ouagadougou. The difference in child vaccination rates between Nairobi and Ouagadougou informal settlements are not related to the differences in their demographic and socioeconomic composition but to the inequalities in access to immunization services.     

La super hypertension artérielle en milieu cardiologique au Burkina Faso

Super hypertension is defined as systolic BP ≥ 250 mmHg and/or diastolic BP ≥ 150 mmHg in presence or not of complications. The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological and evolutive patterns of super hypertension in the cardiology department of the Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital. It was an observation cohort over a period of 26 months (July 2011 to August 2013). We recruited 34 patients, corresponding to a prevalence of 12.9% of all hypertensive patients. The median time of follow-up was 7.1 months. The mean age was 47 years old, with a sex-ratio of 1.3. Twenty-one (62%) of the patients were known hypertensive, out of who 24% were regularly rewiewed, 57% on treatment, but none was on regular medications. Dyspnoea was the reason for consulting in 38% of the cases. We noticed a fundoscopy stage III or IV in 55.9% of the cases. All patients had left ventricular hypertrophy on ECG, and 90% on echocardiography. Complication was noticed on admission in 91% of the cases. Chronic renal failure occured in 14.7% of the cases during follow-up, and overall mortality rate was 0.5 person years. Probability of survival over one month was 70% for all patients. The mean age of deceased was 35%. Presence of renal failure, unknown hypertension, and age < 45 were factors linked to death (P < 0.05). Super hypertension is a pathology of the youth, with high morbi-mortality. The prevention is done through early detection and efficient management of hypertension.     

The analysis of the cross-reactions occurring in antibody-ELISA for the detection of trypanosomes can improve identification of the parasite species involved

In Africa, the main pathogenic trypanosomes of livestock are Trypanosoma vivax, T. congolense and T. brucei. The geographical distributions and hosts of these three species are very similar. As they differ markedly in pathogenicity and epidemiology, however, a species-specific serological test for infection would be very useful for epidemiological studies. The antibody-ELISA (Ab-ELISA) that have been developed for detecting the Trypanosoma spp. most commonly infecting livestock give satisfactory sensitivity and genus specificity. Unfortunately, they are not species-specific because of strong cross-reactions between the pathogenic Trypanosoma spp. In the present study, carried out in Burkina Faso, the results of standardized Ab-ELISA for T. vivax, T. brucei or T. congolense were compared using 1288 plasma samples from sheep experimentally infected with T. vivax, T. evansi and/or T. congolense. If the results were interpreted, as usual, only using a positivity threshold (PT), the strong cross-reactions observed led to a mean species-specificity of < 30%. However, analysis of the reactions observed in the three types of Ab-ELISA revealed that the homologous reactions were stronger than the heterologous for almost all of the single and mixed infections (98.3% and 99.0%, respectively). In monospecific infections exceeding the PT study of the positivity score produced in each of the three types of Ab-ELISA increased species-specificity to > 96%. It therefore appears that comparison of the strengths of the reactions seen in Ab-ELISA could greatly improve sero-epidemiological surveys of trypanosome infections in domestic ruminants, although the technique remains to be evaluated in experimentally infected cattle.     

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Scoparia dulcis L

Different extracts were obtained from Scoparia dulcis L. (Scrophulariaceae) by successive extraction with hexane, chloroform, and methanol. These extracts exhibited significant antioxidant capacity in various antioxidant models mediated (xantine oxidase and lipoxygenase) or not mediated (2,2-diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl, ferric-reducing antioxidant power, β-carotene bleaching, lipid peroxidation) by enzymes. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was related to their phytochemical composition in terms of polyphenol and carotenoid contents. The chloroform extract was richest in phytochemicals and had the highest antioxidant activity in the different antioxidant systems. All the extracts exhibited less than 50% inhibition on xanthine oxidase but more than 50% inhibition on lipid peroxidation and lipoxygenase. The extracts strongly inhibited lipid peroxidation mediated by lipoxygenase.