Routine use of antimicrobial drugs during the 2004 cholera epidemic in Douala, Cameroon

Objectives: To evaluate routine use of antimicrobial drugs for treatment and prevention of cholera with special regards to the evolution of the antimicrobial drug resistance patterns of V. cholerae strains. Design: Retrospective population-based descriptive study. Subjects: Four thousand nine hundred and forty one notified cholera cases, their 15,381 patients' guards and their 159,263 household members and close neighbours. Results: A total of 4,941 patients received antibiotic therapy according to the treatment protocols. Prophylactic treatment was administered to 15,381 patients' guards in hospitals and to 159,263 household members and close neighbours during home visits. Over the entire outbreak, the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of V. cholerae strains isolated remained stable. Conclusions: The routine use of antimicrobial therapy for cholera cases associated with simultaneous and large scale chemoprophylaxis of close contacts does not seem in our experience to compromise the stability of V. cholerae susceptibility profiles to drugs when applied within a comprehensive package of rigorously monitored community interventions. The role of therapy and chemoprophylaxis in limiting the extent of a cholera epidemic is however difficult to ascertain from our experience. Field trials need to be designed to elucidate this aspect. The East African Medical Journal Vol. 83 (11) 2006: pp. 596-60

Hospital-based Surveillance Provides Insights Into the Etiology of Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in the Post-Vaccine Era

Background: Meningitis is endemic to regions of Cameroon outside the meningitis belt including the capital city, Yaoundé. Through surveillance, we studied the etiology and molecular epidemiology of pediatric bacterial meningitis in Yaoundé from 2010 to 2016. / Methods: Lumbar puncture was performed on 5958 suspected meningitis cases; 765 specimens were further tested by culture, latex agglutination, and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serotyping/grouping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and/or whole genome sequencing were performed where applicable. / Results: The leading pathogens detected among the 126 confirmed cases were Streptococcus pneumoniae (93 [73.8%]), Haemophilus influenzae (18 [14.3%]), and Neisseria meningitidis (15 [11.9%]). We identified more vaccine serotypes (19 [61%]) than nonvaccine serotypes (12 [39%]); however, in the latter years non–pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotypes were more common. Whole genome data on 29 S. pneumoniae isolates identified related strains (<30 single-nucleotide polymorphism difference). All but 1 of the genomes harbored a resistance genotype to at least 1 antibiotic, and vaccine serotypes harbored more resistance genes than nonvaccine serotypes (P < .05). Of 9 cases of H. influenzae, 8 were type b (Hib) and 1 was type f. However, the cases of Hib were either in unvaccinated individuals or children who had not yet received all 3 doses. We were unable to serogroup the N. meningitidis cases by PCR. / Conclusions: Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a leading cause of pediatric bacterial meningitis, and nonvaccine serotypes may play a bigger role in disease etiology in the postvaccine era. There is evidence of Hib disease among children in Cameroon, which warrants further investigation

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli: a public health hazard in Yaoundé, Cameroon?

The prevalence of various pathotypes of Escherichia coli was investigated during a case-control study conducted in children diarrhoea in Yaoundé. Isolates obtained from the stools samples of children aged 6 months to 5 years were selected on phenotypic basis, and identified by virulence genes detection using polymerase chain reactions. The most prevalent pathotype was enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (25.8%). Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (3.6%), enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (1%), and enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (0.2%) followed. No shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli were identified. Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli was not associated with diarrhoea (cases 26.1%, controls 25.5%; P=0,887), unlike enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (cases 6.7%, controls 1%; P=0.003). Investigations into documented potentials of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli in causing diarrhoea and other related pathologies indicated that it could be a major public health threat in Cameroon despite the fact that it was not found associated with clinical diarrhoeal cases in this study. Keywords: Cameroon, diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli, public health. Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. Vol. 2 (3) 2008: pp. 272-28

Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus lineages in five major African towns: emergence and spread of atypical clones.

International audienceThe epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Africa is poorly documented. From January 2007 to March 2008, we collected 86 MRSA isolates from five African towns, one each in Cameroon, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger and Senegal. Although one or two major clones, defined by the sequence type and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type, predominated at each site, genetic diversity (ten clones) was relatively limited in view of the large geographical area studied. Most of the isolates (n = 76, 88%) belonged to three major clones, namely ST239/241-III, a well-known pandemic clone (n = 34, 40%), ST88-IV (n = 24, 28%) and ST5-IV (n = 18, 21%). The latter two clones have only been sporadically described in other parts of the world. The spread of community-associated MRSA carrying the Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes is a cause for concern, especially in Dakar and possibly throughout Africa

Epidemiology of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus lineages in five major African towns: high prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes.

International audienceThe epidemiology of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) in Africa is poorly documented. From January 2007 to March 2008, 555 S. aureus isolates were collected from five African towns in Cameroon, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, and Senegal; among these, 456 unique isolates were susceptible to methicillin. Approximately 50% of the MSSA isolates from each different participating centre were randomly selected for further molecular analysis. Of the 228 isolates investigated, 132 (58%) belonged to five major multilocus sequence typing (MLST) clonal complexes (CCs) (CC1, CC15, CC30, CC121 and CC152) that were not related to any successful methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) clones previously identified in the same study population. The luk-PV genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), present in 130 isolates overall (57%), were highly prevalent in isolates from Cameroon, Niger, and Senegal (West and Central Africa). This finding is of major concern, with regard to both a source of severe infections and a potential reservoir for PVL genes. This overrepresentation of PVL in MSSA could lead to the emergence and spread of successful, highly virulent PVL-positive MRSA clones, a phenomenon that has already started in Africa

Broken tempos: Of means and memory in a Senegalese university laboratory

Focusing on the Laboratory of Toxicology and Analytical Chemistry of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal, this article foregrounds temporality as a key dimension of the postcolonial history of African science. This laboratory, like many others across Africa, is experienced by its current and former members as a space of shortage. I explore how memories of ‘means’ and past scientific activity in Dakar and abroad give meaning to subsequent experiences of the lab as a place filled with inactive ‘antiques’ and ‘wreckage’. I suggest that the waning of means not only displaces scientific activity ‘elsewhere’ but also fragments its tempos, altering its rhythms along with its social, moral and affective qualities. The interpenetration of past and future generates nostalgia, segmented narratives and trajectories, quests for immediacy and continuity, as well as new engagements with routines of scientific regulation and management. Paying attention to the intersection of materiality and temporality – by taking seriously African scientists’ longing for science that moves forward, keeps pace, begins now and fills up time – thus opens up new ways of understanding what science means and what it means to do science in times of promise and decline, emergence and interruption, hope and uncertainty in postcolonial Africa. </jats:p