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Medical testing laboratories are an essential link in the efficient management of infectious diseases by the identification of the pathogens involved. However, the arrangements for their operation may appear more difficult in times of health crises and raise multiple issues that may compromise the usual level of quality assurance of biological analyses and the response to needs. The smooth running and control of laboratory activities in a health crisis situation requires the implementation of a management system that allows the federation of all available energies. We report here on the experience of the Pasteur Institute of Côte d'Ivoire, in charge of nasopharyngeal samples management during the COVID 19 pandemic, describing the assessment of pre-analytical activities in the first quarter of the crisis (March to May 2020). We then present the implemented strategy and the results obtained from June to September 2020. This article proposes a framework for sharing experiences to contribute to a better preparation of the pre-analytical phase of laboratory samples during health crises.

Infection due to multi-resistant bacteria is a public health concern. Unfortunately, the prospect of developing new antibiotics seem not to be on the horizon. Faced with this impasse, medicinal plants could be an alternative for the development of new molecules. The aim of this study was to determine the inhibitory effect of H. madagascariensis extracts on β-lactamases. Extraction of bioactive compounds from trunk barks and leaves of the plant was done in an ethanol-water mixture (70:30). Anti-β-lactamase activity was evaluated by spectrophotometry after the removal of tannins and a phytochemical screening was used to identify the groups of compounds. Concentrations inhibiting 50% of enzyme activity were 0.005±0.001 mg/mL (CTX-M-15), 0.01±0.001 mg/mL (P99) and 0.027±0.009 mg/mL (NDM-1) for bark extracts and 0.704 mg/mL for leaves extracts. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids in bark extracts. The ethanolic extracts of the trunk bark exert a good inhibitory activity on CTX-M-15, P99 and NDM-1 β-lactamases and this activity could be attributed to the presence of the flavonoids. Further studies by bio-guided fractionation of the ethanolic extracts of the bark could yield fractions with high inhibitory potential of β-lactamases.