Habitudes de lecture et performances scolaires des élèves des classes de 3ème et de 1ère de la ville de Ouagadougou Burkina Faso

Ouagadougou est fortement corrélée par la présence d’une bibliothèque dans leurs établissements ou dans un rayon pas trop éloignée de leur lieu de résidence, Les élèves de première lisent plus que ceux des troisième. Les # lles lisent plus que les garçons. Les élèves de la ville lisentautant que ceux des provinces. De même, la lecture in ue positivement sur les résultats des élèves qui ont l’habitude de lire. ce sont les # lles plutôt que les garçons qui sont in uencées par l’accès au livres et qui ont une plus forte corrélation entre lire et réussir a l’école Ainsi, les # lles qui lisent plus que les garçons, enregistrent conséquemment de meilleures notes

Epidemiology of Syphilis in regional blood transfusion centres in Burkina Faso, West Africa

Introduction: Syphilis remains a major public health problem in  sub-Saharan Africa, including Burkina Faso. However, few published data are available on the prevalence of syphilis in the population. This study had two main objectives: to determine the seroprevalence of syphilis in acohort of 37,210 first time blood donors and to study socio-demographic factors associated with the risk of infection by Treponema pallidum.Methods: Antibodies to Treponema pallidum were screened by using  Reagin Rapid Test (RPR) and confirmed by treponema pallidum  haemagglutination test (TPHA). Results: The overall seroprevalence of syphilis was 1.5% among first time blood donors and was significantly different between centers (p <0.001). The infection was significantly higher in men than women among blood  donors in Ouagadougou and Fada N´gourma (P = 0.001 and P = 0.034). The overall seroprevalence of syphilis among blood donors was not  associated with either age group or HIV status. In contrast, a significantly high seroprevalence of syphilis was observed in blood donors with HBsAg (P = 0.014) and anti-HCV (P = 0.007) positive.Conclusion: Our report shows a low seroprevalence of syphilis in the  representative sample of the population of Burkina Faso. The  seroprevalence of syphilis remains unequally distributed between urban and rural areas and was not associated with HIV infection

Nutritional properties of enriched local complementary flours

Abstract: This study aimed to identify the nutritional, functional, sensory and microbiological profile of experimental nutritional flours, produced with local products in Burkina Faso. The raw materials included maize (Zea mays), millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and rice (Oryza sativa). Local ingredients were pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa and seeds of Cucurbita maxima and Moringa oleifera. Three formula were developed, the first (F1) with maize, the second (F2) with rice and the last (F3) with millet. Each of these cereals was mixed with predetermined portions of seeds and pulps in order to obtain enriched flour. Nutritional, microbiological and functional analysis and the acceptability criteria of these enriched flours were assessed and compared to Misola (F4), the existing local complementary flour. The fat content of experimental flours were respectively in the first (F1), second (F2) and third formula (F3) 15.91±0.01%, 11.82±0.02% and 17.02±0.02%. The carbohydrate range was 65.46±0.06%, 70.81±0.01% and 64.51±0.01% for F1, F2 and F3, while the energetic value is higher than recommended (453.07±0.05, 424.56±0.03 and 458.96±0.05 kcal respectively for F1, F2 and F3). Functional characteristics indicated the good viscosity (117, 119 and 121 mm/30 sec for F1, F2 and F3) least gelation (9, 6 and 7%) and water absorption capacity (2, 4 and 1 g/g). Trained sensory evaluation panellists gore the enriched flour porridge a score of acceptable. These enriched flours have great potential as a weaning food in resource-poor and technologically under-developed countries

Comparative evaluation of automated KingFisher Flex Purification System 96 (ThermoFisher Scientific) and manual QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit (Qiagen) extraction methods for SARS-CoV-2

Background: The extraction step of the viral material of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) influences the quality of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results in diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the automated extraction system "KingFisher Flex Purification System 96 (ThermoFisher)" compared to the manual method with the "QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit (Qiagen)". Methodology: From October to December 2020, comparative diagnostic evaluation of two methods of SARSCoV-2 RNA extraction methods was conducted on 159 fresh and 120 frozen nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens collected from travellers and suspected cases or contacts of COVID-19 patients in Burkina Faso. The FastPlexTM Triplex 1-Step COVID 19 Detection Kit (RT-PCR, RNA extraction free) (Precigenome LLC) was used to amplify on the same PCR plate, RNA extracts from manual QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit and automated KingFisher Flex Purification System 96 (ThermoFisher) using the QuantStudio5 thermal cycler (Applied Biosystems). Analysis of the diagnostic performance of the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assay following RNA extraction by the two methods was done using an online OpenEpi software. Results: For fresh samples, the study found a slightly higher RT-PCR positivity rate following manual extraction (12.6%) than automated extraction (9.4%). For frozen samples, the positivity rate was far higher for manual (38.33%) than automated extraction method (20.83%). The results show that the performance of the automated extraction was inferior when compared to the manual extraction for both fresh samples (sensitivity 35%, specificity 94.2%) and frozen samples (sensitivity 43.5%, specificity 93.2%). However, using McNemar Chi-square with Yates correction, there was no significant difference in positivity rate of RT-PCR (x2=0.76, p=0.38) between the two extraction methods for the fresh samples, but there was a significant difference (x2=12.9, p= 0.0003) in the extraction of the frozen samples. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that KingFisher Flex Purification System 96 (ThermoFisher) automatic extraction method was less sensitive and specific than QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit (Qiagen) manual extraction method. This information can serve as guide to laboratories in the choice of RNA extraction methods to use for RT-PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2

Malaria mortality in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance system sites.

BACKGROUND: Malaria continues to be a major cause of infectious disease mortality in tropical regions. However, deaths from malaria are most often not individually documented, and as a result overall understanding of malaria epidemiology is inadequate. INDEPTH Network members maintain population surveillance in Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites across Africa and Asia, in which individual deaths are followed up with verbal autopsies. OBJECTIVE: To present patterns of malaria mortality determined by verbal autopsy from INDEPTH sites across Africa and Asia, comparing these findings with other relevant information on malaria in the same regions. DESIGN: From a database covering 111,910 deaths over 12,204,043 person-years in 22 sites, in which verbal autopsy data were handled according to the WHO 2012 standard and processed using the InterVA-4 model, over 6,000 deaths were attributed to malaria. The overall period covered was 1992-2012, but two-thirds of the observations related to 2006-2012. These deaths were analysed by site, time period, age group and sex to investigate epidemiological differences in malaria mortality. RESULTS: Rates of malaria mortality varied by 1:10,000 across the sites, with generally low rates in Asia (one site recording no malaria deaths over 0.5 million person-years) and some of the highest rates in West Africa (Nouna, Burkina Faso: 2.47 per 1,000 person-years). Childhood malaria mortality rates were strongly correlated with Malaria Atlas Project estimates of Plasmodium falciparum parasite rates for the same locations. Adult malaria mortality rates, while lower than corresponding childhood rates, were strongly correlated with childhood rates at the site level. CONCLUSIONS: The wide variations observed in malaria mortality, which were nevertheless consistent with various other estimates, suggest that population-based registration of deaths using verbal autopsy is a useful approach to understanding the details of malaria epidemiology

HRP2 and pLDH-Based Rapid Diagnostic Tests, Expert Microscopy, and PCR for Detection of Malaria Infection during Pregnancy and at Delivery in Areas of Varied Transmission: A Prospective Cohort Study in Burkina Faso and Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Intermittent screening and treatment (IST) of malaria during pregnancy has been proposed as an alternative to intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), where IPTp is failing due to drug resistance. However, the antenatal parasitaemias are frequently very low, and the most appropriate screening test for IST has not been defined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a multi-center prospective study of 990 HIV-uninfected women attending ANC in two different malaria transmission settings at Tororo District Hospital, eastern Uganda and Colsama Health Center in western Burkina Faso. Women were enrolled in the study in the second or third trimester of pregnancy and followed to delivery, generating 2,597 blood samples for analysis. Screening tests included rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) targeting histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) and parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) and microscopy, compared to nPCR as a reference standard. At enrolment, the proportion of pregnant women who were positive for P. falciparum by HRP2/pan pLDH RDT, Pf pLDH/pan pLDH RDT, microscopy and PCR was 38%, 29%, 36% and 44% in Uganda and 21%, 16%, 15% and 35% in Burkina Faso, respectively. All test positivity rates declined during follow-up. In comparison to PCR, the sensitivity of the HRP2/pan pLDH RDT, Pf pLDH/pan pLDH RDT and microscopy was 75.7%, 60.1% and 69.7% in Uganda, 55.8%, 42.6% and 55.8% in Burkina Faso respectively for all antenatal visits. Specificity was greater than 96% for all three tests. Comparison of accuracy using generalized estimating equation revealed that the HRP2- detecting RDT was the most accurate test in both settings. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The study suggests that HRP2-based RDTs are the most appropriate point-of-care test currently available for use during pregnancy especially for symptomatic women, but will still miss some PCR-positive women. The clinical significance of these very low density infections needs to be better defined

Malaria mortality in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH health and demographic surveillance system sites

This paper is part of the Special Issue: INDEPTH Network Cause-Specific Mortality. A Corrigendum has been published for this paper. Please see http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/ gha/article/view/27833Malaria continues to be a major cause of infectious disease mortality in tropical regions. However, deaths from malaria are most often not individually documented, and as a result overall understanding of malaria epidemiology is inadequate. INDEPTH Network members maintain population surveillance in Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites across Africa and Asia, in which individual deaths are followed up with verbal autopsies.To present patterns of malaria mortality determined by verbal autopsy from INDEPTH sites across Africa and Asia, comparing these findings with other relevant information on malaria in the same regions.From a database covering 111,910 deaths over 12,204,043 person-years in 22 sites, in which verbal autopsy data were handled according to the WHO 2012 standard and processed using the InterVA-4 model, over 6,000 deaths were attributed to malaria. The overall period covered was 1992-2012, but two-thirds of the observations related to 2006-2012. These deaths were analysed by site, time period, age group and sex to investigate epidemiological differences in malaria mortality.Rates of malaria mortality varied by 1:10,000 across the sites, with generally low rates in Asia (one site recording no malaria deaths over 0.5 million person-years) and some of the highest rates in West Africa (Nouna, Burkina Faso: 2.47 per 1,000 person-years). Childhood malaria mortality rates were strongly correlated with Malaria Atlas Project estimates of Plasmodium falciparum parasite rates for the same locations. Adult malaria mortality rates, while lower than corresponding childhood rates, were strongly correlated with childhood rates at the site level.The wide variations observed in malaria mortality, which were nevertheless consistent with various other estimates, suggest that population-based registration of deaths using verbal autopsy is a useful approach to understanding the details of malaria epidemiology.P. Kim Streatfield ... Yohannes A. Melaku ... et. al

Progress towards elimination of onchocerciasis in the Region du Sud-Ouest of Burkina Faso which was previously subject to a recrudescence event after vector control

Background The Sud-Ouest region of Burkina Faso (especially the Bougouriba valley) has been historically problematic with respect to onchocerciasis control, with a recrudescence of infections after vector control carried out the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme was halted in 1989. After 1996, mass drug administration of ivermectin was instigated to control the recrudescence so that it would no longer constitute a public health problem. However, in 2010 WHO changed its recommended policy from control to elimination, and in 2013 biannual Community-Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) was instigated. Epidemiological surveys were carried-out in 2011 and 2018 to determine whether CDTI was producing a decline in infection levels and progress towards elimination. Methodology/Principal findings A cross-sectional study was conducted across 20 villages in four health districts in 2011 and 29 villages in 2018. Individuals aged five years and above were examined by skin-snip, and the prevalence and microfilarial load was determined for each village. In 2011, 75% of villages had some infections and 20% had prevalences >5%, with a mean prevalence across all villages of 2.63% (range 0.0–9.7%), and community microfilarial load ranging from 0 to 0.25 microfilariae per biopsy. In 2018, nine villages (= 31% of total) had some infections, with prevalences ranging from 0.41% to 3.54%, and a mean prevalence across all villages of 0.37%. Community microfilarial load ranged from 0 to 0.1. Amongst those people found to be microfilarial positive, 87% had a history of migration. Conclusions/significance The endemicity of onchocerciasis infection in the Sud-Ouest region has declined to low levels and seems to be progressing towards elimination. Our findings indicated that biannual CDTI is having good effect, but it should continue for a number of years to ensure elimination of transmission. However, progress towards elimination has a troublesome history in this region, and it would be advisable to select more sentinel villages to have confidence in any future epidemiological and entomological surveys, especially Stop-MDA surveys. With positive individuals migrating between countries, cross-border collaboration needs more attention to ensure effective treatment for onchocerciasis elimination