Survey of Anaplasmataceae bacteria in sheep from Senegal.

PURPOSE: The authors studied the role of bacteria belonging to Anaplasmataceae family as the causes of acute illnesses of sheep in West Africa. METHODS: We examined and sampled 120 febrile sheep in two regions of Senegal for this study. The DNA extracted from these blood samples was tested by PCR using two pairs of primers (groEL-based and 16S rRNA gene-based). RESULTS: In 52/120 samples, the microscopic examination revealed intraerythrocytic and/or intraphagocytic spherical inclusions. In 48/52 cases, we succeeded in identifying the bacterial agent: in 38 cases, it was Anaplasma ovis; in six cases, it was Ehrlichia ruminantium; in two cases, Anaplasma phagocytophilum; in one case, Anaplasma platys; and in one case, a yet uncultured Anaplasma sp. closely related to A. phagocytophilum. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies demonstrated the great variety of pathogenic bacteria from the Anaplasmataceae family in the blood of clinically ill sheep. A. ovis was identified unexpectedly often. For the first time, A. phagocytophilum was found in sub-Saharan Africa, and its further epidemiology may be now reconsidered. The roles of canine pathogen, A. platys, and yet undescribed Anaplasma sp. "Badiouré" in ovine pathology should be more closely studied.

New malaria-control policies and child mortality in senegal: reaching millennium development goal 4.

BACKGROUND: The Demographic Surveillance System established in 1962 in Niakhar, Senegal, is the oldest in Africa. Here, we analyze trends in overall child mortality, malaria, and other causes of death in Niakhar from the beginning of data collection to 2010. METHODS: After an initial census, demographic data were updated yearly from 1963 through 2010. From 1984, causes of death were determined by the verbal autopsy technique. RESULTS: During 1963-2010, infant and under-5 mortality rates decreased from 223‰ to 18‰ and from 485‰ to 41‰, respectively. The decrease was progressive during the entire observation period, except during 1990-2000, when a plateau and then an increase was observed. Malaria-attributable mortality in under-5 children decreased from 13.5‰ deaths per 1000 children per year during 1992-1999 to 2.2‰ deaths per 1000 children per year in 2010. During this period, all-cause mortality among children aged <5 years decreased by 80%. CONCLUSIONS: Inadequate treatment for chloroquine-resistant malaria and an epidemic of meningitis during the 1990s were the 2 factors that interrupted a continuous decrease in child mortality. Direct and indirect effects of new malaria-control policies, introduced in 2003 and completed during 2006-2008, are likely to have been the key cause of the recent dramatic decrease in child mortality.

[A comparative study of the emergence of the AIDS and syphilis pandemics]. / Etude comparée sur l'origine et l'émergence de la syphilis et du sida.

A historical and comparative study of the origins and emergence of syphilis and AIDS show that both result from human intrusions. Treponema probably existed in primates before human infection, and nonvenereal treponemal infection existed in prehistoric tropical Africa. When humans began wearing clothes, the disappearance of endemic infection ended immunity and led to receptivity to venereal infection. It was long thought that syphilis was first introduced in Europe by the conquistadors, but lesions typical of treponematosis dating from before the Common Era have been found in Europe. It is possible that the first navigators transferred treponemal infections to Latin America. AIDS seems to have appeared throughout the Congo River basin around 1950, and genetic studies attest to its long history in primates. It may have resulted from the Bantu migration and its strong human intrusion into the forest. After the initial human infection, new epidemiological factors in a transformed environment and behavioral changes led at 500-year intervals (1480-1490 for syphilis and 1940-1950 for AIDS) to the widespread emergence and subsequent pandemic of each disease.

[Malaria in mangrove areas of the Saloum delta (Senegal)]. / Le paludisme en zone de mangrove du delta du Saloum (Sénégal).

This study of malaria biodiversity in Senegal used an entomological approach that combined parasite surveys and clinical investigations in the mangrove area of the Saloum delta from 1996 to 1998. The parasitologic studies took place in two of the six villages in the coastal area of Palmarin (Djifère and Diakhanor) during three distinct periods: at the end of the dry season, in the middle of the rainy season, and at the end of the rainy season. The clinical investigations at the Palmarin health station took place from July 1996 through February 1998. A malaria attack was defined as the presence of malaria symptoms (including fever, headaches, sweating, and shivering) associated with plasmodic parasitemia > 3,000 trophozoites/microL of blood. All the positive thick smears were infected with Plasmodium falciparum, one also with P. falciparum, and none with P. ovale. The average plasmodic index (5.6%) classifies the delta of Saloum as a hypoendemic area. The average parasite load was estimated at 2,239 trophozoites (95% CI: 1,660-3,020) of P. falciparum per microliter of blood, and 86.9% of patients with symptoms of a malaria attack were febrile. Malaria attacks accounted for 1.9% of the total consultations, 12.2% of the presumed malaria cases, and 14.0% of the febrile subjects. The finding that malaria attacks affected all age groups confirms the weakness of anti-malaria immunity among the population of the Saloum delta. Malaria cases were more frequent at the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry season, periods when parasite loads were highest. In this area, which is increasingly attractive to tourists and has a quite superficial fresh water table, man-made environmental changes favor mosquito breeding sites that promote the development of An. arabiensis and An. gambiae spp, both known to be major malaria vectors. In view of the population's weak anti-malaria immunity, this situation may increase malaria transmission and could be followed by epidemics. It is therefore important to set up a functional system of epidemiological monitoring to detect any malaria outbreaks.

Evaluation of anti-Plasmodium falciparum antibodies in Senegalese adults using different types of crude extracts from various strains of parasite.

To date, no consensus exists on the type of crude Plasmodium falciparum Ags to be used in a standard assay for the evaluation of the overall anti-blood-stage immune response in humans. Comparison of the dose-dependent reactivity of using a pool of hyper-immune Senegalese sera to saponin and water schizont extracts of the Senegalese 07/03 isolate indicated similar reactivity on both types of antigen preparations. Water schizont extracts from three different strains of P. falciparum adapted to in vitro culture probed with a panel of specific mouse antisera and monoclonal antibodies reacting with conserved antigens showed similar antigenic content. Seroreactivity of immune individuals living in three different areas of endemicity was assessed in parallel on water crude extracts. The individual IgG, IgM and IgG subclass antibody responses to the various schizont preparations correlated positively. The specific IgM response was higher on the Senegalese schizont extract than on the FCR3 extract and was highest in Dielmo villagers. The IgG response was similar in all three locations and was strain independent. These results indicate that monitoring IgG antibody levels to the widely distributed FCR3 strain using an easily prepared crude lysate might represent a valuable reference ELISA allowing homogenisation and comparison of data from different laboratories.

Coxiella burnetii in humans and ticks in rural Senegal.

BACKGROUND: Q fever is a worldwide zoonotic disease caused by Coxiella burnetii. Epidemiologically, animals are considered reservoirs and humans incidental hosts. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated Q fever in rural Senegal. Human samples (e.g., sera, saliva, breast milk, feces) were screened in the generally healthy population of two villages of the Sine-Saloum region. Ticks were collected in four regions. Seroprevalence was studied by immunofluorescence, and all other samples were tested by two qPCR systems for detection of C. burnetii. Positive samples were genotyped (multispacer typing) by amplification and sequencing of three spacers. Strains were isolated by cell culture. We found that the seroprevalence may be as high as 24.5% (59 of 238 studied) in Dielmo village. We identified spontaneous excretion of C. burnetii by humans through faeces and milk. Hard and soft ticks (8 species) were infected in 0-37.6%. We identified three genotypes of C. burnetii. The previously identified genotype 6 was the most common in ticks in all studied regions and the only one found in human samples. Three strains of genotype 6 of C. burnetii were also recovered from soft tick Ornithodoros sonrai. Two other genotypes found in ticks, 35 and 36, were identified for the first time. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Q fever should be considered a significant public health threat in Senegal. Humans, similar to other mammals, may continuously excrete C. burnetii.

Ngoye virus: a novel evolutionary lineage within the genus Flavivirus.

By using degenerate primers deduced from conserved patterns in the flavivirus polymerase gene, a novel RNA virus was discovered in Rhipicephalus ticks sampled from members of the family Bovidae in Senegal. It was named Ngoye virus (NGOV) after the location from which it was isolated. Viral particles could be observed by electron microscopy, but isolation in vertebrate or invertebrate cell lines or by intracerebral infection of newborn mice remained unsuccessful. This is atypical of recognized arboviruses. The characterization of 4176 nt of the non-structural genes revealed that NGOV is a novel flavivirus species. It forms a distinct phylogenetic lineage related distantly to previously identified members of the genus Flavivirus. Analysis of genetic data suggested that the processing of the NGOV polyprotein and the organization of its replication complex are similar to those of flaviviruses. Together with other recent data, these findings suggest that a large number of viruses related distantly to 'classical' arthropod-borne flaviviruses remain to be discovered.