Search

Jin Un Kim,1 Obinna Oleribe,2 Ramou Njie,3 Simon D Taylor-Robinson1 1Division of Digestive Health, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK; 2Excellence and Friends Management Care Centre, Abuja, Nigeria; 3MRC, Serekunda, The Gambia Abstract: The modern concept of globalization in health care and clinical research often carries a positive message for the “Global South” nations of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. However, bioethical abuse of participants in clinical trials still exists in the Global South. Unethical studies directed by the “Global North”, formed by the medically advanced nations in North America, Western Europe and Japan, have been hugely concerning. The issue between the Global North and South is a well-recognized socioeconomic phenomenon of globalization. Medical exploitation has its roots in the socioeconomic interactions of a postcolonial world, and solutions to reducing exploitation require a deeper understanding of these societal models of globalization. We explore the fundamental causes of imbalance and suggest solutions. Reflecting on the globalization model, there must be an effort to empower the Global South nations to direct and govern their own health care systems efficiently on the basis of equality. Keywords: global health, bioethics, clinical trials, Africa, exploitation, imperialism

Background & Aims: Although HBV is a major cause of death in Africa, its genetic variability has been poorly documented. This study aimed to address whether HBV genotype and surface gene variants are associated with HBV-related liver disease in The Gambia. Methods: We conducted a case-control study nested in the Prevention of Liver Fibrosis and Cancer in Africa programme. Consecutive treatment-naive patients with chronic HBV infection and detectable viral load were recruited: 211 controls with no significant liver disease and 91 cases (56 cirrhosis and 35 HCC cases). HBV genotypes and surface gene variants were determined by Sanger sequencing or next-generation sequencing (NGS) in serum DNA. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-specific codon 249 TP53 mutation was determined by NGS in circulating cell-free plasma DNA. Results: In phylogenetic analysis, 85% of individuals carried HBV genotype E, 14% genotype A, and 1% A/E recombinant viruses. Surface gene variants were more frequently observed in cases (43% and 57% in cirrhosis and HCC cases, respectively) than controls (25%; p 2,000 IU/ml (OR 22.7 [8.0–64.9]), HBsAg levels

Presents a letter to the editor on a clinical case of a child diagnosed with both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection through mother-to-child transmission.

Background: Expanding antiviral therapy to people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection who are ineligible to receive treatment under current international criteria has been increasingly debated. Evidence to support this approach is scarce, especially in Africa. We aimed to address this knowledge gap by analysing the clinical outcomes of people with chronic hepatitis B in The Gambia who were untreated and ineligible for antiviral therapy at diagnosis., Methods: Between Dec 7, 2011, and Jan 24, 2014, we implemented the prospective PROLIFICA cohort study in The Gambia. Participants with chronic hepatitis B aged 16 years or older were recruited after large-scale, community-based HBV screening; blood bank-based HBV screening in Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Banjul; and prospective follow-up of HBsAg-positive individuals via historical, population-based HBsAg serosurveys in two rural villages (Keneba and Manduar). Participants underwent HBV serology and other laboratory tests, fasting FibroScan, and abdominal ultrasound. Survival data were collected between Dec 7, 2011, and Aug 17, 2021. Between Oct 9, 2018, and Aug 17, 2021, all HBsAg-positive participants enrolled in the 2011-14 cohort were invited for a reassessment. For this analysis, we included HBsAg-positive people and excluded all participants who were eligible for treatment according to the 2012 European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) criteria at baseline and those who were treated irrespective of treatment eligibility. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, assessed in all treatment-ineligible and treatment-naive participants with follow-up data. The secondary outcome, analysed in those who were reassessed, was disease progression, defined as becoming eligible for antivirals per 2017 EASL criteria; having an increase in liver fibrosis of at least one stage; or having a clinical diagnosis of hepatic decompensation or hepatocellular carcinoma., Findings: 943 HBsAg-positive people with chronic hepatitis B were recruited to the PROLIFICA study. Of these 943, 58 (6%) fulfilled 2012 EASL treatment eligibility criteria at baseline, 35 (4%) were ineligible for treatment but received antiviral therapy, and 44 (5%) were immediately lost to follow-up. Thus, 806 (85%) participants were analysed for the primary outcome (486 [60%] were male and 320 [40%] were female). After a median follow-up of 6·11 years (IQR 5·34-6·80), 708 (88%) participants were confirmed to be alive at last surveillance, 71 (9%) were lost to follow-up and were censored, and 27 (3%) died, giving an all-cause mortality rate of 582 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 399-849). Of the 27 people who died, five (19%) had liver-related deaths. Of 708 participants confirmed to be alive, 544 (77%) attended follow-up and were assessed for the secondary outcome. Disease progression occurred in 36 (7%) participants: five (1%) became newly eligible for antiviral therapy per EASL 2017 criteria without liver fibrosis progression; 18 (3%) had liver fibrosis progression alone; 13 (2%) had liver fibrosis progression and newly fulfilled the treatment criteria; and none had hepatic decompensation or developed hepatocellular carcinoma. In multivariable analysis adjusted for sex and age, only a baseline HBV DNA of 20 000 IU/mL or more, compared with the baseline HBV DNA of 2000 IU/mL or lower as the reference, was significantly associated with liver disease progression (odds ratio 5·39, 95% CI 1·37-21·23)., Interpretation: Among people with chronic hepatitis B who were ineligible for antiviral therapy in The Gambia, all-cause mortality and liver disease progression were low. The clinical benefit of expanding antiviral therapy in this subgroup of patients remains uncertain., Funding: European Commission, Medical Research Council UK Research and Innovation, and Gilead Sciences., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests ML, YS, MT, and GN received research funding and consultancy fees from Gilead Sciences and Abbott. ML received consultancy fees from Cepheid and Abbott and is the recipient of the funding. YS received research materials from Fujirebio and Abbott. GC is an employee of Abbott. PI received consultancy fees from Gilead, AbbVie, and ViiV Healthcare. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Liver abscess is endemic in resource-limited countries such as The Gambia where access to advanced imaging techniques or modern treatment modalities is limited. Despite this, mortality in this cohort was low. Therefore antibiotic therapy combined with percutaneous abscess drainage remains a reasonable treatment strategy of liver abscess in resource-poor settings., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: As a result of the lack of screening programs and the difficulty in making a proper diagnosis, the majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HHC) patients present late in low-resource countries. The study therefore assesses the clinical features, stage and prognostic variables of patients with HCC in The Gambia., Methods: From December 2015 to January 2019, patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HCC were enrolled. All patients' medical history, ultrasound scan, FibroScan and laboratory details were collected., Results: Two hundred and sixty (260) patients were enrolled. The mean age of HCC patients was 40 years, and 210 (80.7%) of them were male. The most common gastrointestinal symptoms were early satiety 229 (88.1%) and abdominal pain 288 (87.7%), while the most common constitutional symptoms were weight loss 237 (91.2%) and easy fatiguability 237 (91.2%). Hepatomegaly 205 (78.8%) was the most common sign. On ultrasound scan, lesions were mostly multifocal 175 (67.3%), and the median FibroScan score was 75 kPa. The median fibrosis 4 and aspartate transferase platelet ratio index were 4.6 and 2.2, respectively. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was positive in 170 (65.4%) patients, and the median AFP level was 3263 ng/ml. HCC patients with positive HBsAg were more likely to be male 145 (85.3%) vs 62 (72.1%) (p = 0.011), much younger 39.9 vs 51.4 yrs (p =  < 0.0001), more likely to have abdominal pain 156 (91.8%) vs 68 (79.1%) (p = 0.002), jaundice 78 (45.9%) vs 29 (33.7%) (p = 0.042), dark urine 117 (68.8%) vs 46 (53.5%) (p = 0.018), raised transaminases (Aspartate transaminases 224.5 (32-7886) vs 153 (18-610), p =  < 0.01, Alanine transferases 71 (5-937) vs 47 (8-271), p =  < 0.001) and decreased platelet count 207 (33-941) vs 252 (52- 641) (p = 0.021) compared to patients with HCC who were HBsAg-negative., Conclusions: The prognosis of patients with HCC is poor in developing countries such as The Gambia, where screening programs and treatment modalities are scarce. Young males are disproportionately affected, and HBV is a major cause of HCC in The Gambia., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Malaria remains a major public health concern in The Gambia. The study assessed the trend of malaria admissions and outcome of adult patients admitted after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in The Gambia., Methods: This was a retrospective hospital-based study and data was collected from the 18th October 2020 to 28th February 2023. Demographic data, clinical features, investigations, treatment, and outcomes were recorded., Results: A total of 499 malaria cases were admitted to the hospital over the 29 months of the study period. Data from 320 (67.2% of the total cases) adult patients admitted into the internal medicine department were analysed. The median age was 22 years, range (15-90) and 189 (59.1%) cases were youth with a youth (15-24 years) to older adult (> 24 years) ratio of 1.4:1. The majority of the patients were male 199 (62.2) with a male to female ratio of 1.6:1. The total number of malaria cases admitted into the internal medicine department increased from 103 cases in 2021 to 182 cases in 2022and admission peaked in November in both years. The total number of admitted malaria cases during the peak of the malaria season also increased from 92 patients between September 2021 and December 2021 to 132 patients from September 2022 to December 2022.There was also an increase in both severe and uncomplicated malaria during the same period. The total mortality was 31 (9.7%) and the rate was similar in 2021 9 (8.7%) and 2022 15 (8.4%). Patients with impaired consciousness were more likely to die when compared to those without impaired consciousness [19 (23.6%) vs 12 (5%), p  ≤ 0.001]. Patients with acute kidney injury were also more likely to die when compared with those without acute kidney injury [10 (20.4%) vs 15 (7.7%), p = 0.009]., Conclusion: The findings show an emerging and consistent trend of malaria admissions and the outcome in the youth and older adult population after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in The Gambia. This, therefore, suggests the need for the implementation of targeted malaria prevention interventions in this population to further prevent the spread of the disease to the more vulnerable population., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Chronic liver disease is a major cause of premature death in sub-Saharan Africa. Efficacy of antiviral therapy among patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis is not well established in Africa. We described the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in The Gambia and assessed the impact of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) on survival of HBV-infected patients with cirrhosis., Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we followed up adults who were consecutively diagnosed with cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma between 2012 and 2015 in The Gambia, west Africa. Patients with chronic HBV infection and cirrhosis, without hepatocellular carcinoma, were offered TDF. Primary outcome was overall survival. To determine the effect of TDF on survival, we performed a Cox proportional hazard regression model with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) based on propensity score., Findings: Of 529 patients enrolled in this study, 336 patients (252 with hepatocellular carcinoma and 84 with cirrhosis) were analysed. Patients were predominantly male (253 [75%] men and 83 [25%] women), with a median age of 42 years (IQR 33-55). 276 (84%) of 327 of patients with data were positive for HBV biomarkers, 31 (10%) of 311 were positive for hepatitis C virus antibodies, and 22 (10%) of 223 were positive for hepatitis D virus antibodies. 64% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had multifocal tumour, with a median size of 7·5 cm (IQR 5·4-10·8). 173 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 70 patients with cirrhosis were included in the survival analysis. Median survival was 1·5 months (95% CI 1·1-2·0) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 17·1 months (11·2-24·0) in patients with cirrhosis (log-rank p<0·0001). In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, ascites (hazard ratio [HR] 1·78, 95% CI 1·21-2·60), partial or complete portal thrombosis (HR 2·61, 1·58-4·30), and platelet count (HR 1·80, 1·19-2·70) were independent predictive factors of mortality at baseline. In HBV-infected patients with cirrhosis, median turnaround time between cirrhosis diagnosis and TDF initiation was 4·9 months (IQR 3·2-7·3). In IPTW analysis, TDF treatment was associated with improved survival in patients with HBV-related cirrhosis (adjusted HR 0·14, 0·06-0·34; p<0·0001)., Interpretation: These results highlight poor survival of patients with cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma as well as the effectiveness of TDF in reducing the premature mortality of patients with cirrhosis and HBV infection. Interventions for early diagnosis and treatment of cirrhosis as well as screening programmes for hepatocellular carcinoma are urgently required in Africa., Funding: European Commission and Medical Research Council UK., Translation: For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests ML, YS, PI, and GN received research funding and consultancy fees from Gilead Sciences. PI reports speaker's honoraria not related to the published work from Gilead France, AbbVie Germany, ViiV Germany, and Eiger France. ML reports consulting fees from Abbott; consulting fees and payments from Gilead for participation on a scientific advisory board and for lectures; and receiving tenofovir from Gilead Sciences for PROLIFICA. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Background: To reduce mortality associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, timely detection of cirrhosis and early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is essential. In low-income countries, however, HBV-infected people have limited access to liver histopathology, a reference test. Recently, Asian studies have suggested the usefulness of an inexpensive serum biomarker called Mac-2 binding protein glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) in staging liver fibrosis and predicting HCC in HBV-infected patients., Methods: We systematically searched PubMed for studies examining the performance of M2BPGi in staging liver fibrosis in HBV-infected people, published up to September 21, 2021, to elucidate the knowledge gap. We then conducted a cross-sectional study of 339 HBV-infected patients in The Gambia (cirrhosis  = 65, HCC = 73, non-cirrhosis non-HCC = 201). We evaluated the association of M2BPGi with cirrhosis and HCC by computing odds ratios (ORs) derived from logistic regression. We also assessed the performance of M2BPGi to stage liver fibrosis in 49 patients who underwent liver biopsy (derivation set) and 217 patients with transient elastography (validation set). Using the derivation set we drew the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves to identify optimal M2BPGi thresholds to indicate significant fibrosis and cirrhosis using biopsy as a reference. We then applied these cut-offs to the validation set to obtain its sensitivity and specificity for indicating significant fibrosis and cirrhosis using transient elastography as a reference., Results: The systematic review identified 13 studies, all of which were conducted in East Asia and none in Africa. In The Gambia, positive M2BPGi was significantly associated with both cirrhosis (adjusted OR = 7.8, 95% CI = 3.1-19.7) and HCC (adjusted OR = 10.1, 2.6-40.2). The areas under the ROC curve (AUROC) in the derivation and validation set were 0.62 and 0.78, respectively, to diagnose significant fibrosis, and 0.80 and 0.89, respectively, to diagnose cirrhosis. By applying the optimal cut-offs, the sensitivity and specificity in the validation set were 61.5% and 93.4%, respectively, to diagnose significant fibrosis, and 72.5% and 92.2%, respectively, for cirrhosis., Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of M2BPGi in HBV-infected African population. The findings supported its accuracy in the diagnosis of cirrhosis in HBV-infected patients in West Africa., Competing Interests: Disclosure of interest: The authors completed the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form (available upon request from the corresponding author) and YS and ML disclose receiving research grants from Gilead Sciences. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.”, (Copyright © 2022 by the Journal of Global Health. All rights reserved.)

Background: Malaria is a major public health concern in The Gambia. There is limited data on the clinical manifestation and outcome of severe malaria in adult patients in The Gambia. The study therefore assessed the clinical manifestations and outcome of severe malaria in adult patients admitted at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital., Methods: The study retrospectively reviewed the records of all malaria patients admitted from 18th October 2020 to 2nd February 2022. Demographic data, clinical features, investigations, treatment, and outcomes were recorded., Results: A total of 131 confirmed malaria patients were recruited into the study. The median age was 21 yrs, range (15-90) and most of them were within the youth age group (15-24yrs) 85 (64.9%). The majority of the patients were also male 88 (67.2%) with a male to female ratio of 2:1. The most common symptom at presentation was fever 119 (90.8%) and the most common sign was pallor 48 (36.6%). Seventy-six patients (58.1%) and 55 (41.9%) patients met the criteria for severe malaria and uncomplicated malaria diagnosis, respectively. The most common clinical feature amongst patients with severe malaria were impaired consciousness 34 (44.7%), severe anaemia 26 (34.2%) and acute kidney injury 20 (26.3%). Patients with severe malaria were younger with mean age of 22.9 vs. 29 yrs (p = 0.004), more likely to be referred from a lower-level health facility 62 (81.6%) vs. 34 (61.8%) (p = 0.012), to have a longer duration of admission (p = 0.024) and to die 13 (17.1%) vs. 0 (0%) (p = 0.001) as compared to patients with uncomplicated malaria. The total mortality was 13 (9.9%) and all the patients who died had severe malaria. Mortality was higher in patients with impaired consciousness 9 (26.5%) and there was a significant relationship between death and impaired consciousness 9 (69.3%) vs. 25 (21.4%) p = 0.001., Conclusion: Severe malaria still affects young adults in an endemic area with significant mortality. This suggests the need for targeted malaria prevention, surveillance, case management and control strategies in this population group in The Gambia to help reduce morbidity and mortality of malaria., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Prevalence and clinical outcomes of occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) have been poorly studied in Africa., Methods: Using the PROLIFICA cohort, we compared the prevalence of OBI between hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative healthy adults screened from the general population (controls) and HBsAg-negative patients with advanced liver disease (cases), and estimated the population attributable fraction for the effect of OBI on advanced liver disease., Results: OBI prevalence was significantly higher among cases (15/82, 18.3%) than controls (31/330, 9.4%, P = .03). After adjusting for age, sex, and anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) serology, OBI was significantly associated with advanced liver disease (odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-6.0; P = .006). In HBsAg-negative people, the proportions of advanced liver disease cases attributable to OBI and HCV were estimated at 12.9% (95% CI, 7.5%-18.1%) and 16.9% (95% CI, 15.2%-18.6%), respectively., Conclusions: OBI is endemic and an independent risk factor for advanced liver disease in The Gambia, West Africa. This implies that HBsAg-negative people with liver disease should be systematically screened for OBI. Moreover, the impact of infant hepatitis B immunization to prevent end-stage liver disease might be higher than previous estimates based solely on HBsAg positivity., Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. M. L., M. T., and Y. S. received consultancy fees and research funding support from Gilead US company. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

Introduction: adequate knowledge on hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is important among patients with the infection as this impacts their health-seeking behavior. This study therefore assessed the knowledge and attitude among patients infected with HBV in The Gambia., Methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted at the main liver clinic, Medical Research Council Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG@LSHTM). A questionnaire was administered on a one-on-one basis to assess the level of knowledge and attitude of people with chronic HBV., Results: a total of 152 HBV patients were recruited into the study. Majority of the participants were male 136 (89.5%), within the 30-39 years age group. Sixty-four (42.1%) of the patients attained secondary education and 72 (47.4%) were working as civil servants. The mean knowledge score was 11.09/20 (standard deviation = 4.89). HBV patients having tertiary level education (p-value =0.001) or HBV diagnosis greater than 1 year (p-value =0.031) were more likely to have adequate knowledge of HBV infection. No significant associations were found between the socio-demographic and clinical characteristic variables and attitude. However, majority of the participants (56.6%) reported been worried about having HBV infection ever since being diagnosed., Conclusion: this study has highlighted the need for more patient health education especially for those with lower levels of education and newly diagnosed patients. It also further confirms the need for cultural and appropriate language consideration in providing education and information for HBV patients in The Gambia at the point of diagnosis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright: Landing Jarju et al.)

Background: The Gambia has one of the lowest survival rates for breast cancer in Africa. Contributing factors are late presentation, delays within the healthcare system, and decreased availability of resources. We aimed to characterize the capacity and geographic location of healthcare facilities in the country and calculate the proportion of the population with access to breast cancer care., Methods: A facility-based assessment tool was administered to secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities and private medical centers and clinics in The Gambia. GPS coordinates were obtained, and proximity of service availability and population analysis were performed. Distance thresholds of 10, 20, and 45 km were chosen to determine access to screening, pathologic diagnosis, and surgical management. An additional population analysis was performed to observe the potential impact of targeted development of resources for breast cancer care., Results: All 102 secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities and private medical centers and clinics in The Gambia were included. Breast cancer screening is mainly performed through clinical breast examination and is available in 52 facilities. Seven facilities provide pathologic diagnosis and surgical management of breast cancer. The proportion of the Gambian population with access to screening, pathologic diagnosis, and surgical management is 72, 53, and 62%, respectively. A hypothetical targeted expansion of resources would increase the covered population to 95, 62, and 84%., Conclusions: Almost half of the Gambian population does not have access to pathologic diagnosis and surgical management of breast cancer within the distance threshold utilized in the study. Mapping and population analysis can identify areas for targeted development of resources to increase access to breast cancer care., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

The clinical utility of quantifying hepatitis B surface antigen (qHBsAg) levels in African subjects with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been poorly documented. From a multicentre cohort of 944 HBV-infected African patients, we aimed to assess whether qHBsAg alone can accurately identify i) those in a HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection phase at low risk of liver disease progression and ii) those in need of antiviral therapy according to the 2017 EASL guidelines. We analysed 770 HBV mono-infected treatment-naïve patients, mainly males (61%) from West Africa (92%), median age 35 years (IQR: 30-44), median HBV DNA: 95.6 IU/ml (10.0-1,300.0), median qHBsAg 5,498 IU/ml (1,171-13,000) and HBeAg-pos 38 (5%). A total of 464/770 (60.2%) patients were classified as HBeAg-negative chronic infection (median age 36 years (31-46), median ALT 23 IU/l (18-28), median HBV-DNA 33.5 IU/ml (3.8-154.1), median LSM 4.8 kPa (4.1-5.8)) and qHBsAg levels had poor accuracy to identify these subjects with an AUROC at 0.58 (95%CI: 0.54-0.62), sensitivity 55.0% and specificity 55.6%; 118/770 (15.3%) patients were eligible for treatment according to the 2017 EASL criteria. qHBsAg correlated poorly with HBV DNA and had poor accuracy to select patients for antiviral therapy with an AUROC at 0.54 (0.49-0.60), sensitivity 46.6% and specificity 46.9%. In African treatment-naïve HBV-infected subjects, the clinical utility of qHBsAg to identify subjects in HBeAg-negative infection phase or subjects eligible for antiviral therapy seems futile. Whether qHBsAg levels can be used as a predictor of long-term liver complications in Africa needs to be further investigated., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)