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Background Men who have sex with men (MSM) using preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Therefore, PrEP services should include regular screening for Chlamydia trachomatis(CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae(NG) at urethra, anorectum, and pharynx. However, financial and logistic challenges arise in low-resource settings. We assessed a new STI sample pooling method using the GeneXpert instrument among MSM initiating PrEP in West Africa. Methods Urine, anorectal, and pharyngeal samples were pooled per individual for analysis. In case of an invalid result only (strategy 1) or a positive result of the pool (strategy 2), samples were analyzed individually to identify the infection's biological location. The results of 2 different pooling strategies were compared against the individual results obtained by a criterion standard. Results We found a prevalence of 14.5% for chlamydia and 11.5% for gonorrhea, with a predominance of infections being extragenital (77.6%). The majority of infections were asymptomatic (88.2%). The pooling strategy 1, had a sensitivity, specificity and agreement for CT of 95.4%, 98.7%, and 0.93, respectively; and 92.3%, 99.2%, and 0.93 for pooling strategy 2. For NG, these figures were 88.9%, 97.7%, and 0.85 for strategy 1, and 88.9%, 96.7%, and 0.81 for strategy 2. Conclusions West African MSM have a high prevalence of extragenital and asymptomatic STIs. The GeneXpert method provides an opportunity to move from syndromic toward etiological STI diagnosis in low-income countries, as the platform is available in African countries for tuberculosis testing. Pooling will reduce costs of triple site testing.

Evaluation of Rapid Tests and Identification of Algorithms for the Screening and the Serotyping of HIV Infection in West Africa To evaluate HIV rapid tests and algorithms on both serum/plasma (SP) and whole blood (WB) as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) before their implementation in any country. The goal of this is to avoid false positive/negative results, or the misclassification of HIV serotypes, particularly in countries where both HIV-1 and HIV-2 co-circulate.

Purpose: To characterize the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to second line drugs using a line probe assay.Methods: Multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated between December 2008 and December 2009 were tested for resistance to fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs using GenoType® MTBDRsl.Results: Thirty eight strains gave interpretable results. None of them had a mutation in the gyrA gene. Regarding second-line injectable drugs, 4 strains (11 %) were resistant to aminoglycosides/ capreomycin and all of them harbored A1401G mutation.Conclusion: No extensive drug resistant strains were observed. A relatively high proportion of strains were resistant to at least one second-line injectable drug. Resistance mechanism seemed similar for all of them.Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Line probe assay, GenoType® MTBDRsl, Aminoglycosides Capreomycin, Mutation

Viral gastroenteritis are a problem of public health because of the high rate of morbidity and mortality, particularly in children. Among the etiologic agents, human Astroviruses are the third agents most often incriminated after Rotaviruses and Caliciviruses. Symptoms of gastroenteritis caused by Astroviruses are generally moderated compared with those observed with Rotaviruses and rarely involve hospitalization. In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, the majority of viral gastroenteritis is attributed to Rotavirus with rates varying from 20 to 26%. No study on the circulation of human Astroviruses has been carried out in Côte d'Ivoire. Our objective was to detect human Astroviruses in the diarrhoeal stools in Abidjan. Seventy-two samples of human diarrhoeal stools were collected in ambulatory patients. This population was made up of 44 patients from 0 to 15 and 28 patients over 15 years old. The concentration of the viral particles of the samples was followed by the extraction of the RNA by the modified method of Boom. The extracted RNA were amplified by RT-PCR by using specific primers targeting a portion of the 3' end of the open reading frame ORF la of the genome of human Astroviruses. The amplified fragment was 192 pb. The genome of human Astroviruses was detected in 3 stools out of the 72 samples. That is a frequency of 4%. Among these 3 stools, 2 came from 4 month and 3 year-old children and the 3rd stool came from a 33 year-old patient. For the first time this survey has pointed out the circulation of human Astroviruses in the Côte d'Ivoire population. This survey also showed that human Astroviruses could be found in children as well as in adults., Les gastro-entérites virales constituent un problème de santé publique, du fait de la morbidité et de la mortalité élevées, surtout chez les enfants. Parmi les agents étiologiques, les Astrovirus sont les troisièmes agents le plus souvent incriminés après les Rotavirus et les Calicivirus. Aucune étude sur la circulation des Astrovirus humains n'a été menée en Côte d'Ivoire.72 échantillons de selles diarrhéiques provenant de patients ambulatoires ont été analysés selon la méthode de Boom, en vue de l'extraction des ARN. Les ARN extraits ont été amplifiés par RT-PCR en utilisant des amorces spécifiques ciblant une portion de l'extrémité 3' de la phase de lecture ouverte ORF 1a du génome des Astrovirus.Le génome des Astrovirus a été retrouvé dans 4% (3/72) des selles analysées.Cette étude a permis pour la première fois de mettre en évidence la circulation des Astrovirus dans la population en Côte d'Ivoire.

Viral gastroenteritis are a problem of public health because of the high rate of morbidity and mortality, particularly in children. Among the etiologic agents, human Astroviruses are the third agents most often incriminated after Rotaviruses and Caliciviruses. Symptoms of gastroenteritis caused by Astroviruses are generally moderated compared with those observed with Rotaviruses and rarely involve hospitalization. In sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, the majority of viral gastroenteritis is attributed to Rotavirus with rates varying from 20 to 26%. No study on the circulation of human Astroviruses has been carried out in Côte d'Ivoire. Our objective was to detect human Astroviruses in the diarrhoeal stools in Abidjan. Seventy-two samples of human diarrhoeal stools were collected in ambulatory patients. This population was made up of 44 patients from 0 to 15 and 28 patients over 15 years old. The concentration of the viral particles of the samples was followed by the extraction of the RNA by the modified method of Boom. The extracted RNA were amplified by RT-PCR by using specific primers targeting a portion of the 3' end of the open reading frame ORF la of the genome of human Astroviruses. The amplified fragment was 192 pb. The genome of human Astroviruses was detected in 3 stools out of the 72 samples. That is a frequency of 4%. Among these 3 stools, 2 came from 4 month and 3 year-old children and the 3rd stool came from a 33 year-old patient. For the first time this survey has pointed out the circulation of human Astroviruses in the Côte d'Ivoire population. This survey also showed that human Astroviruses could be found in children as well as in adults., Les gastro-entérites virales constituent un problème de santé publique, du fait de la morbidité et de la mortalité élevées, surtout chez les enfants. Parmi les agents étiologiques, les Astrovirus sont les troisièmes agents le plus souvent incriminés après les Rotavirus et les Calicivirus. Aucune étude sur la circulation des Astrovirus humains n'a été menée en Côte d'Ivoire.72 échantillons de selles diarrhéiques provenant de patients ambulatoires ont été analysés selon la méthode de Boom, en vue de l'extraction des ARN. Les ARN extraits ont été amplifiés par RT-PCR en utilisant des amorces spécifiques ciblant une portion de l'extrémité 3' de la phase de lecture ouverte ORF 1a du génome des Astrovirus.Le génome des Astrovirus a été retrouvé dans 4% (3/72) des selles analysées.Cette étude a permis pour la première fois de mettre en évidence la circulation des Astrovirus dans la population en Côte d'Ivoire.

In order to assess the level of polio virus with natural recombinant genome and wild polio virus circulating in the environment of healthy children aged 0 to 5 years in Abidjan, 130 polio viruses made up of 26 polio type 1, 55 type 2 and 49 type 3 were identified by neutralisation test with monoclonal antibodies and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) targeting the VP1 and 3D1 gene. Four wild non Sabin-like (NSL) strains (3.1%): one type 2 and three type 3 were identified in non vaccinated children. One hundred and six (81.5%) isolates were Sabin-like, 20 (15.4%) were recombinant with the following polio virus profiles: 2 Sabin-like type 1/type 2, 3 Sabin-like type 3/type 1, 11 Sabin-like type 3/type 2 and one polio virus type 3 NSL/Sabin-like type 3. Intertypic vaccine/vaccine or vaccine/wild strain recombinant polio virus circulating among healthy children rate was high and suggested the need for a molecular surveillance of vaccine strains. Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) strains are well-known to revert to pathogenicity in vaccines. Therefore, the long term excretion of pathogenic OPV derived strains by some vaccinees needs to be considered quite seriously. It therefore suggested that all polio virus isolated from acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) be analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing of the viral genome. Key words: polio virus, recombinant virus, healthy children, Cote d'Ivoire. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(5) 2004: 289-293

To determine the prevalence of méticillino-résistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among health care personnel in Abidjan teaching hospitals as well as their resistance profile against other antibiotics, 592 health care personnel from various surgical and medical services: the intensive care unit, gynaecology and obstetrics and third-degree burns services of the Cocody, Treichville and Yopougon Teaching Hospitals were included. The previous nasal pits of each subject included were swabbed. The isolation of S. aureus strains was run in a Chapman medium followed by Identification based on morphological and biochemical characteristics. The resistance profile of the strains to antibiotics was determined by standard Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and a 1 microg disc of oxacillin was used for the detection of meticillin-resistance S. aureus strains according to NCCLS (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards) guidelines. 269 members of the studied personnel were carriers of S. aureus, either a rate of portage of 45.4%. Among the 269 S. aureus isolates, 38.7% were MRSA strains and the carriage rate of MRSA in the population was 17.8%. The health care personnel working in surgery was the more colonized (36.7%) follow-up of those of the medical services (31.4%) and of the the intensive care unit (12.4%). A variable proportion of strains of MRSA also expressed resistances to the other families of antibiotics: 27% to aminosids of which 13.5% of phénotype kanamycine, tobramycine, gentamycine (KTG), 58.7% to macrolids and related (MLS), 37.5% to fluoroquinolons, 14.4% to cyclines and 40% to the cotrimoxazole. This confirms their multi-resistant character. The prevalence of MRSA carriage among health care personnel is high; this personnel constitutes an infectious risk for the hospitalized patients who are so exposed to nosocomial infections caused by MRSA.