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Background The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a global threat affecting 210 countries, with 2,177,469 confirmed cases and 6.67% case fatality rate as of April 16, 2020. In Africa, 17,243 cases have been confirmed, but many remain undiagnosed due to limited laboratory-capacity, suboptimal performance of used molecular-assays (~30% false negative, Yu et al. and Zhao et al., 2020) and limited WHO-recommended rapid-tests. Objectives We aim to implement measures to minimize risks for COVID-19 in Cameroon, putting together multidisciplinary highly-experienced virologists, immunologists, bioinformaticians and clinicians, to achieve the following objectives: (a) to integrate/improve available-infrastructure, methodologies, and expertise on COVID-19. For this purpose, we will create a platform enabling researchers/clinicians to better integrate and translate evidence into the COVID-19 clinical-practice; (b) to enhance capacities in Cameroon for screening/detecting individuals with high-risks of COVID-19, by setting-up effective core-facilities on-site; (c) to validate point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 molecular assays allowing same-day result delivery, thus permitting timely diagnosis, treatment, and retention in care of COVID-19 patients; (d) to implement SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis with innovative/highly sensitive ddPCR-based assays and viral genetic characterization; (e) to validate serological assays to identify COVID-19-exposed persons and follow-up of convalescents. Methods This is a prospective, observational study conducted among COVID-19 suspects/contacts during 24 months in Cameroon. Following consecutive sampling of 1,536 individuals, oro/nasopharyngeal swabs and sera will be collected. Well characterised biorepositories will be established locally; molecular testing will be performed on conventional real-time qPCR, point-of-care GeneXpert, antigen-tests and digital droplet PCR (ddPCR); SARS-CoV2 amplicons will be sequenced; serological testing will be performed using ELISA, and antibody-based kits. Sensitivity, specificity, positive- and negative-predictive values will be evaluated. Expected outcomes These efforts will contribute in creating the technical and clinical environment to facilitate earlier detection of Sars-CoV-2 in Africa in general and in Cameroon in particular. Specifically, the goals will be: (a) to implement technology transfer for capacity-building on conventional and point-of-care molecular assays, achieving a desirable performance for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV2; (b) to integrate/improve the available infrastructure, methodologies, and expertise on Sars-CoV2 detection; (c) to improve the turn-around-time for diagnosing COVID-19 infection with obvious advantage for patients/clinical management thanks to low-cost assays, thus permitting timely treatment and retention in care; (d) to assess the epidemiology of COVID-19 and circulating-variants in Cameroon as compared to strains found in other countries.

ObjectiveThrough a hospital-based SARS-CoV-2 molecular and serological screening, we evaluated the effectiveness of two months of lockdown and two of surveillance, in Milan, Lombardy, the first to be overwhelmed by COVID-19 pandemics during March-April 2020.MethodsAll subjects presenting at the major hospital of Milan from May-11 to July-5, 2020, underwent a serological screening by chemiluminescent assays. Those admitted were further tested by RT-PCR.ResultsThe cumulative anti-N IgG seroprevalence in the 2753 subjects analyzed was of 5.1% (95%CI = 4.3%-6.0%), with a peak of 8.4% (6.1%-11.4%) 60-63 days since the peak of diagnoses (March-20). 31/106 (29.2%) anti-N reactive subjects had anti-S1/S2 titers >80 AU/mL. Being tested from May-18 to June-5, or residing in the provinces with higher SARS-CoV-2 circulation, were positively and independently associated with anti-N IgG reactivity (OR [95%CI]: 2.179[1.455-3.264] and 3.127[1.18-8.29], respectively). In the 18 RT-PCR positive, symptomatic subjects, anti-N seroprevalence was 33.3% (95% CI: 14.8%-56.3%).ConclusionSARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Milan is low, and in a downward trend after only 60-63 days since the peak of diagnoses. Italian confinement measures were effective, but the risk of contagion remains concrete. In hospital-settings, the performance of molecular and serological screenings upon admission remains highly advisable.

Since SARS-CoV-2-based disease (COVID-19) spreads as a pandemic, the necessity of a highly sensitive molecular diagnosis that can drastically reduce false negatives reverse transcription PCR (rtPCR) results, raises as a major clinical need. Here we evaluated the performance of a ddPCR-based assay to quantify SARS-CoV-2 titer in 55 suspected COVID-19 cases with negative rtPCR results thanks to in-house ddPCR assay (targeting RdRp and host RNaseP). Samples were collected at ASST-GOM Niguarda between February and May 2020 at hospital admission. Clinical and imaging data were obtained for clinical staging and definition of disease severity. Patients were mainly female (45.5%) with a median age of 73 (57-84) years. ddPCR-based assay detected SARS-CoV-2 genome in nasopharyngeal samples of 19 (34.5%) patients (median viral-load: 128 copies/mL, IQR: 72-345). In 15 of them (78.9%), chest CT showed a classical COVID-19 bilateral interstitial pneumonia; 14 patients (73.7%) showed severe COVID-19 manifestations. ddPCR did not identify any trace of SARS-CoV-2 genome in the respiratory samples of the remaining 36 patients. The serological assay performed in a subgroup of 34 patients at the later stage of illness (from 3 days to 90 days after) confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in all patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in ddPCR (100%). Contrariwise, negative tests were observed in 95.0% ddPCR negative patients (P

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype E almost exclusively occurs in African people, and its presence is more commonly associated with the development of chronic HBV (CHB) infection. Moreover, an epidemiological link has been found between the distribution of HBV genotype E infection and African countries with high incidences of hepatocellular carcinoma. As part of a programme for the health assessment of migrants, we evaluated 358 young African subjects for HBV infection; 58.1% (208/358) were positive for an HBV marker, and 54 (25.5%) had CHB. Eighty-one percent of the CHB subjects were infected with HBV genotype E, with a median serum HBV-DNA of 3.2 (IQR: 2.7-3.6) logIU/ml. All patients had high serum HBsAg titres (10,899 [range 5,359-20,272] IU/ml), and no correlation was found between HBsAg titres and HBV-DNA plasma levels. RT sequence analysis showed the presence of a number of immune escape mutations: strains from all of the patients had a serine at HBsAg position 140; 3 also had T116N, Y100C, and P142L+S143L substitutions; and 1 had a G112R substitution. Six (18%) patients had stop-codons at position 216. In 5 of the 9 (26.5%) CHB patients, ultrasound liver biopsy, quantification of total intrahepatic HBV-DNA and cccDNA, and RT/HBsAg sequencing were performed. The median (IQR) total intrahepatic HBV-DNA was 766 (753-1139) copies/1000 cells, and the median (IQR) cccDNA was 17 (10-27) copies/1000 cells. Correlations were observed for both total intrahepatic HBV-DNA and cccDNA with serum HBV-DNA, while no correlation was found for the HBsAg titres. A difference of 2.5/1,000 nucleotides was found in the HBsAg sequences obtained from plasma and from liver tissue, with 3 cases of possible viral anatomical compartmentalization. In conclusion, a high rate of CHB infection due to the E genotype was demonstrated in a group of immigrants from Western Africa. An analysis of the viral strains obtained showed the virological characteristics of immune escape, which may be the cause of viral replication persistence. Moreover, a fair percentage of stop codon mutations were found. The lack of correlation between HBsAg titres and plasma or intrahepatic HBV-DNA found in these subjects suggests a pathway of virus production that is not linked to HBsAg secretion. Studies with a larger number of patients with CHB due to the E genotype are advisable to corroborate these observations.