[Thromboembolic manifestations in 36 HIV-infected patients in West Africa]. / Manifestations thromboemboliques chez 36 patients Ouest Africains infectés par le VIH.

In HIV-infected patients thromboembolic disease is a complication linked to heightened risk. In Ivory Coast no study has been conducted on HIV-infected patients treated in HIV Services. The aim of our study is to describe HIV-associated thromboembolic manifestations in patients treated or untreated with antiretroviral drugs whose data were collected in the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Service (ITDS). We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing the medical records of HIV-infected patients hospitalized with deep vein thrombosis (DVT), arterial thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism over the period January 2005-July 2015. Diagnosis was based on Doppler ultrasound of vessels and/or on thoracic angioscanner. Diagnostic, therapeutic and evolutionary features of thromboembolic manifestations in these patients were analyzed. The medical records of 36 patients, including 23 women (64%), with a sex-ratio M/F of 0.57 and an average age of 43±12 years were selected. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) was found in 26 (72.2%) patients, pulmonary embolism (PE) in 9 (25%) patients and arterial thrombosis in 1 patient (2.8%). DVT was unilateral in 81% of cases and predominantly left-sided in 77% of cases. PE was unilateral and right-sided in 100% of cases while arterial thrombosis was bilateral in 2.7% of cases. In patients with DVT, the femoral vein (39%) and the popliteal vein (35%) were most commonly affected by thrombosis. PE involved the pulmonary arteries in 77.8% of cases while arterial thrombosis involved the left and right internal carotid. The majority of patients was under antiretroviral treatment (69%). The most commonly associated opportunistic infections included oral candidiasis (31%) and tuberculosis (33%). Nine patients died (25%). This study highlights high rates of DVT in HIV-infected patients. Other studies are necessary to better understand the role of HIV in the occurrence of thromboembolic disease.

Performance and clinical usefulness of the Optimal-IT® test in the treatment of confirmed malaria cases in rural areas in Côte d'Ivoire.

Background: In Africa, malaria care is mostly based on clinical presumption and the general application of antimalarial treatment to all febrile episodes over several years. Treatment limited to confirmed cases might curb the practice of equating fever with malaria, antimalarial drug abuse and the extension of Plasmodium resistance, provided that powerful and reliable rapid diagnostic tests are used. This study aimed at determining the performances of the Optimal-IT® test in the strategy for the exclusive treatment of uncomplicated malaria in rural areas. Materials and Methods: A prospective study conducted in the forest region of San Pedro, Côte d'Ivoire, included patients exhibiting clinical signs of uncomplicated malaria who gave their consent and benefited from thick blood film (TBF), blood smear (BS) and Optimal-IT® (pLDH-based) test. Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) results were taken into consideration to decide on malaria treatment and then compared with TBF/BS results (reference) to assess the performances and clinical usefulness of the RDT. Results: The mean age of the 384 patients included (209 men, 175 women) was 28 years and the mean temperature was 38.1°C. TBF/BS and Optimal-IT® were concordant in 92% of patients but discordant in 10 false negative (3%) and 19 false-positive patients (5%). The average parasite density of P. falciparum was 25,600 trophozoites/µl. The performances calculated were: sensitivity=95%, specificity=91%, positive predictive value=90%, negative predictive value=95%, positive likelihood ratio=10, negative likelihood ratio=0.06 and diagnostic odds ratio=166, indicating that Optimal-IT® is a powerful and credible diagnostic tool. The 193 RDT-positive patients treated were healed, despite three recurrence cases at day (D) D17, D25 and D27, respectively. RDT-negative patients received various treatments (antibiotics, paracetamol), but two patients among them presented with a bout of malaria on D7. None of the previously untreated patients returned with severe malaria. Conclusions: The Optimal-IT® test, which is already used in the field, showed good performances to effectively detect patients with and without malaria. It is therefore adapted to the malaria treatment strategy limited to confirmed cases.