[Current situation of primary prophylaxis with isoniazid (INH) in children who are contacts of patients with bacillary pulmonary tuberculosis in Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire)]. / Situation actuelle de la chimioprophylaxie primaire à l'isoniazide (INH) chez les enfants contacts des patients atteints de tuberculose pulmonaire bacillifère à Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire).

INTRODUCTION: The National tuberculosis program (NTP) in Ivory Coast recommends that children under 5 years living in a family environment with contagious tuberculosis patients, should receive Prophylactic treatment with INH (PTI), whatever the result of the tuberculin skin test (positive or negative) and their BCG status (vaccinated or not), at a dose of 5mg/kg/day for 6 months. We conducted this study to check the implementation of this recommendation in three support services of tuberculosis in Abidjan, the economic capital. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional and descriptive study over 3 years (2011-2013), on consented patients, adolescents and adults aged at least 15 years, with a first episode of infectious pulmonary tuberculosis, in order to look for information on the INH prophylaxis in children under 5 years living under the same roof. We made patients interviews during their visit for bacteriological sputum controls at the second month of TB treatment. RESULTS: Of a total of 412 patients (53% males and 47% females) with a mean age of 34.5 years and with a low level of instruction (66.5%), we noticed 639 children under 5 years living under the same roof with them. Information on the screening of contact children was given to 71% of interviewed patients (291/412). Of the 339 children examined among 639 contacts, 234 (69%) had received only an intradermoreaction (IDR) and PTI was finally administered to 64% of them (217/339). CONCLUSION: High proportion of contact children under 5 not examined is a major concern for the NTP and a missed opportunity to prevent additional cases of tuberculosis among children.

[Ivory Coast physician's knowledge and attitudes about smoking in patients with tuberculosis]. / Connaissances et attitudes des médecins ivoiriens vis-à-vis du tabagisme chez les patients atteints de tuberculose.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking promotes, among other health problems, the development of tuberculosis and the discovery of a case of tuberculosis can therefore be an opportunity for tobacco control interventions. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study evaluating the knowledge of 37 Ivorian physicians (32 men and 5 women with 5 active smokers) on the relationship between smoking and tuberculosis and their attitudes to smoking tuberculous patients between February and August 2012 using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: The response rate to the questionnaire was 88.1%. Among them, 70.3% of Ivorian physicians knew that smoking increased the incidence of tuberculosis, 75.7% said that forms of tuberculosis were more severe in smokers and about 27% thought that the cure rate of tuberculosis was lower in smokers. No significant difference was observed according to respondents' smoking status, or gender. Patients' smoking status was always assessed by 64.9% of physicians and by 78.4% in patients with tuberculosis, again not differing by physicians' smoking status or gender. The risks of smoking were always explained to patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis by 43.2% and benefits of stopping smoking ware always described in 35.1%. An intervention for smoking cessation was systematically offered to smokers having tuberculosis by 59.4% of physicians and 8.1% offered medication for smoking cessation. CONCLUSION: These results strongly support the need to reinforce physician behaviors to address smoking in patients with tuberculosis in Ivory Coast.

[Effects of war on control of tuberculosis in Côte d'Ivoire from 2002 to 2007]. / Effets de la guerre sur le contrôle de la tuberculose en Côte d'Ivoire de 2002 à 2007.

OBJECTIVES: To specify consequences of armed conflict in Côte d'Ivoire from 2002 to 2007 on treatment outcomes of new cases of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB+) and retreatment cases. METHODOLOGY: Retrospective analysis of treatment outcomes and reprocessing notified to the National Program against Tuberculosis from 2001 to 2008. RESULTS: Totally, 7,4232 cases of TPM+ and 5094 cases of reprocessing had been declared during the war period in Côte d'Ivoire. The global average rate of therapeutic success was 72% with a lower average rate of success in retreatment in Center, Northern et Western (CNO) zone (54%) than in Southern zone (73%). The average rate of lost sight was higher in CNO zone than in the South with respectively 27% and 11%. The average rate of success in retreatment was 60% on the national level with a lower rate in CNO zone (48%) than in the South zone (62%) and the average rate of lost sight in retreatment was higher in CNO zone than in the South zone (28% versus 16%). CONCLUSION: Our results show that there was no early epidemic of tuberculosis during the armed conflict in Côte d'Ivoire which has although severely disrupted activities of tuberculosis management in ex-nongovernmental zone.

[Simvastatin indused chylothorax]. / Chylothorax induit par la simvastatine.

Chylothorax is a rare disorder occurring most often in aftermath of a thoracic surgery or during cancer of mediastinum. We report the clinical history of the world's second case of chylothorax which appeared during treatment with simvastatin.

[Aetiologies of pleural effusions in HIV-infected patients in Abidjan, Côte-d'Ivoire]. / Etiologies des pleurésies chez les patients infectés par le VIH a Abidjan, Côte-d'Ivoire.

From December 1995 to March 1996 a cross sectional study was carried out in the pulmonary Medicine Unit of Treichville in Abidjan. In order to specify the main aetiologies of pleural effusion, an investigation was conducted among 35 adult patients (19 men and 16 women) suffering from pleuritis. Overall, the mean age was 32.2 years (range: 19-53 years). All the patients underwent a standard chest x-ray a skin test with 10 units of tuberculin, a whole blood cells count with CD4 T cells count and HIV test. The following analysis were performed on the pleural fluid for all patients: cytological, bacteriological and mycobacteriological examination. Some patients underwent as well a pleural biopsy performed by Abram's needle. Pleural fluid was clear in 24 cases (69%). Empyema was found in 8 cases (23%) and hemorrhagic fluid in 3 cases (9%). Tuberculosis was the dominant aetiology of pleuritis noted in 29 patients (83%), followed by far by non-tuberculous bacterial infections in 6 patients (17%). Tuberculosis associated with common bacterial infections was noted in 3 cases.

[Antitubercular drug treatment failure and HIV infection in Abidjan (Ivory Coast)]. / Echec du traitement antituberculeux et infection due au VIH à Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire).

A retrospective study from 1989 to 1993 was carried out on eighty patients out of 106 cases of tuberculosis treatment failure; representing 2.2% of persons with active pulmonary tuberculosis followed at the tuberculosis screening center of Abidjan. The rate of HIV seropositivity was 43.7%. At the beginning of the therapy, 80% of HIV-positive and 89% of HIV-negative had diffuse pulmonary lesions (no significant difference: P > 0.05. At the end of second month therapy, 49% of co-infected and 51% of HIV-negative patients showed bacteriological negative sputum. The treatment administered after reporting failure, led to 63% of recovery among the HIV-positive (22/35) and 62% among the HIV-negative (28/45). On the other hand, the rate of patients out of touch was high in both populations; respectively 29% of HIV infected and 31% of HIV-negative spreading the risk of contamination of neighbourhood by probably resistant bacilli.

[Bronchial endoscopy for the diagnosis of tuberculous mediastinal adenopathies]. / L'endoscopie bronchique dans le diagnostic des adénopathies médiastinales tuberculeuses.

The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the yield of bronchial endoscopy for the diagnosis of tuberculous mediastinal adenopathies. We analyzed the results in 200 procedures in patients with tuberculous mediastinal adenopathies. Mediastinal tuberculous adenopathies were found in 6% of the patients with tuberculosis diagnosed during the same period. Mean age of the patients was 30.5 years, and the sex ratio was 1.5. Bronchial endoscopy improved the diagnostic yield of the bronchial aspiration fluid (22% versus 11% without endoscopy). This method allowed positive diagnosis of tuberculosis in 164 patients (82%) by visualizing specific lesions such as compressions, granulations, and gangliobronchial fistulae. Histological confirmation was obtained in 72 (79%) patients among 91 biopsy specimens. Bronchial endoscopy remains a crucial exploration for the diagnosis of mediastinal tuberculous adenopathy, even in HIV-infected patients, because in our series, among 101 treated patients, 99 were HIV positive (98%).

[Pulmonary complications of human immunodeficiency virus infection in sub-Saharan Africa]. / Complications pulmonaires de l'infection par le virus de l'immunodéficience humaine en Afrique sub-saharienne.

Based on a selection of articles published in the literature and reports from international AIDS conferences, we present the main pulmonary complications of HIV-infection observed in sub-Saharan Africa. The different clinical studies demonstrate the predominance of infectious complications, mainly tuberculosis (29 to 44%) and bacterial pneumonia (21 to 35%). The frequency of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia remains low (5 to 19%). Other complications (mycobacterial infection, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, cryptococcus, aspergillosis, interstitial lymphoid pneumonia, Kaposi sarcoma) are less frequent. The autopsy studies report similar results and mention the predominance of tuberculosis and pneumonia due to common germs as well as the low frequency of pneumocystosis. This analysis of work conducted in sub-Saharan Africa clearly indicate that tuberculosis remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients.

[The new face of tuberculosis in the context of the tuberculosis-HIV association in Abidjan, Ivory Coast]. / Le nouveau visage de la tuberculose dans le contexte de l'association tuberculose-VIH à Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

This article reviews the main clinical aspects and progression of HIV-related tuberculosis in Abidjan. HIV prevalence in tuberculosis patients is high, estimated at 46.2% in 1992, with a clear predominance of HIV-1 over HIV-2. More than 61% of co-infected tuberculous patients meet the WHO's clinical definition of AIDS (the Bangui definition) at the time of diagnosis of tuberculosis. This rates falls to 46-51% when cough is excluded from the definition. On X-rays, the signs of pulmonary tuberculosis in co-infected tuberculous patients are atypical in the advanced stages of HIV infection, when extra-pulmonary localization, mainly mediastinal adenopathy, is frequent. Short-course chemotherapy consisting of 2 months' unsupervised daily treatment with rifampicin/isoniazid/pyrazinamide, followed by 4 months of a daily combination of rifampicin/isoniazid, applied in the Ivory Coast since 15 July 1985, has proved successful in HIV-associated tuberculosis, with treatment effectiveness rates of more than 90%.

[Autopsy findings in 70 AIDS patients who died in a department of pneumology in Ivory Coast: impact of tuberculosis]. / Données fournies par l'autopsie de 70 sujets décédés de SIDA en milieu pneumologique ivoirien: impact de la tuberculose.

Based on autopsy findings in 70 patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who died in the Pulmonology Department of the Treichville University Hospital Center in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. the authors assess the incidence of tuberculosis as the cause of death and analyze the clinical, bacteriologic, and histologic features of the disease. in this population. Pulmonary tuberculosis was the first cause of death in this series accounting for 31 cases (44.2%). In 12 cases (38.7%), microscopic identification failed during hospitalization and the disease had been misdiagnosed as common bacterial pneumonia. In 29 cases (93.5%) pulmonary tuberculosis was associated with abdominal involvement. In 17 cases (54.8%) involvement of more than two organs was observed. Of the 60 abdominal sites detected during the autopsy of the 31 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, there were 19 (31.3%) in lymph nodes, 18 (30%) in the liver, 14 (23.3%) in the spleen, and 9 (14.9%) in the kidneys. Histologic features were remarkable by the absence of typical tuberculous granulomas. The findings of this study confirm the high incidence of disseminated tuberculosis in patient infected by HIV as noted in a number of previous studies.

[Hemoptysis: main etiologies observed in a pneumology department in Africa]. / Hémoptysies: principales étiologies observées dans un service de pneumo-phtisiologie en Afrique.

The aim of this work was to ascertain the main aetiologies of haemoptysis observed in the pneumo-phtisiology unit at the University Hospital of Treichville at Abidjan, Ivory Coast. A retrospective survey covering 5 years revealed 142 cases. The annual incidence of haemoptysis was 2.5% of the unit's admissions. The mean age of the patients was 33.2 years and 56.3% were at least 41 years of age. Men were predominate (72.5%). The haemoptysis was a sign of thoracic disease in 66.9% of the cases. The chest X-ray was judged abnormal in all the cases and suggested the aetiology in 87.3%. The main aetiologies were pulmonary tuberculosis (49.3%) and acute pneumopathy (with or without abscess) (13.3%). Other causes included bronchectasis (11.2%) and pulmonary aspergilloma (7.7%), followed by bronchogenic cancer (4.2%). The results of this study indicated that tuberculosis remains one of the main causes of haemoptysis at Abidjan.

[Pulmonary diseases and retrovirus infections. A pathological study in 70 cases]. / Pathologie pulmonaire et infection rétrovirale. Etude nécropsique de 70 cas.

A necroscopic study, conducted in the Pathology Department of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Treichville in Abidjan, included 70 seropositive subjects who died in the Pneumophtisiology Department. We attempted to determine the different pulmonary affections occurring during infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study demonstrated the predominant role of tuberculosis (44%) and bacterial pneumonia (30%) which remain the predominant aetiologies. Other opportunistic affections were rare including: Pneumocystises, Mycobacteriaceae, and Cytomegalovirus infection and the Kaposi sarcoma. The absence of pulmonary cryptococcosis and non-Hodgkin lymphoma were also noted. Necroscopic examinations do not necessarily provide evidence of the in vivo pathologies, the autopsy being able to identify only the causal diseases or those present at death.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. An uncommon cause of death in African patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Admissions and deaths in a pulmonary medicine ward in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa, were evaluated over a 6-month period in 1989 with systematic autopsies on all patients who died. Of 473 patients admitted, 38% were HIV-1 seropositive, 4% were HIV-2 seropositive, and 14% reacted to both viruses. A total of 100 patients (21%) died, and deaths were twice as frequent in HIV-seropositive compared with HIV-negative patients. The pathology of 78 autopsies showed that the predominant cause of death in HIV-seropositive patients was disseminated tuberculosis (40%). Cancer was the cause of death in 64% of HIV-negative patients. Pneumocystosis was found in only 9% of HIV-seropositive autopsies. Since Pneumocystis carinii is an uncommon cause of death in this population, prophylaxis for P. carinii pneumonia is not warranted for HIV-infected patients in Africa. In contrast, research on chemoprophylaxis for tuberculosis is urgently required.

PIP: Between January-June 1989, researchers evaluated 473 admissions and 100 deaths at the Pulmonary Medicine Service at the University Hospital in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to determine prevalence of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections, to look at death rates in relation to HIV status, and to examine the pulmonary pathology associated with these infections compared with deaths in HIV negative patients. HIV-1 seroprevalence was 38%, HIV-2 4%, and dual HIV reactive 14%. The death rate for the entire sample was 21%. It was higher in HIV seropositive patients than HIV seronegative patients (27% vs. 14%; relative risk=1.95 times). HIV seropositive patients regardless of HIV group essentially died from the same diseases: 40% from pulmonary tuberculosis (disseminated nonreactive multibacillary pattern), 34% from nonspecific pneumonia, 8% from Pneumocystis pneumonia, 6% from Kaposi's sarcoma, and 4% from lung cancer. Among only HIV-1 seropositive cases, Pneumocystis carinii was the cause of death in only 95 of cases. The leading causes of death for HIV seronegative patients included lung cancer (64%), nonspecific pneumonia (28%), and pulmonary tuberculosis (4%). Researchers should be pressed to develop more sensitive means to diagnosis tuberculosis as well as prophylaxis against reactivation of tuberculosis among HIV seropositive people in Africa. Since Pneumocystis carinii infection is uncommon among HIV seropositive people in Africa, prophylaxis for it is not needed.