Expérience Marocaine sur les goitres négligés en mission humanitaire en Guinée Bissau: à propos de quatre observations

La mission humanitaire de notre hôpital militaire médico-chirurgicale en Guinée Bissau avait pour but le  rapprochement des soins à la population. Les pathologies rencontrées étaient le plus souvent négligées. Nous rapportons quatre observations de goitres négligés sur une durée de trois mois allant de Mai 2015 à Aout 2015. Nous discuterons les problèmes de pathologies négligées en rapport essentiellement avec le niveau  socioéconomique bas et l'insuffisance en moyens diagnostiques et thérapeutiques et en personnel de soins qualifiés.Key words: Tumeurs historiques, retard diagnostique, niveau socio-économiqu

An unusual presentation of appendicitis: a 23 cm long appendix in Morocco

The appendix is a diverticulum attached to the caecum. It can have variable lengths and locations. Acute inflammation from long appendix is a diagnostic challenge with unusual signs and symptoms. A 35 years old man admitted to the emergency department for an acute abdominal pain with low-grade fever which had been present for 03 days. The abdomen Ultrasound showed minimal effusion in the right iliac fossa. He underwent an appendicectomy which revealed a very long appendix (23 cm in length) with tip reaching the sub hepatic area. The surgeon must kip in mind all anatomical variations of the appendix for making diagnosis and decisison to operate acute appendicitis because the increasing risk of morbidity

Intranodal palisaded myofibroblastoma: a case report from an unusual site

Intranodal palisaded myofibroblastoma is a rare lymph node benign tumor, of unknown pathogenesis. Although benign, this lesion is frequently confused with metastatic lesions, especially in atypical sites. We report a  39-year-old man with a history of testicular malignant mixed germ cell tumor, presented with abdominal  painless mass. The computed tomography of the abdomen confirmed the presence of 180 × 140 mm2 mass in the retroperitoneum with  lympadenopathy on the right measuring 20 x 15 mm. The patient underwent  exploratory laparotomy, and a surgical exerese of the retroperitoneeum lymph node  was made. Histological and immunohistochemical examination confirmed the diagnosis of intranodal palissaded myofibroblastoma. This entity has been previously, only once, in retroperitoneal region. Despite to the rarity of this  neoplasm, we discuss clinicopathologic features and differential diagnosis.Key words: Intranodal palisaded myofibroblastoma, retroperitoneum, lymph nod

Occult hepatitis B virus infection in Moroccan HIV infected patients

Background: The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of Occult hepatitis B virus Infection (OBI) among antiretroviral treatment naïve HIV-1 infected individuals in Morocco and to determine factors favouring its occurrence.Methods: The retrospective study was conducted in the Mohammed V military teaching hospital in Rabat between January 2010 and June 2011. It included patients with confirmed HIV infection, tested negative to serological detection of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and did not received antiviral treatment or hepatitis B vaccine. All samples were tested for anti-HBc, anti-HBs and anti-HCV antibodies using enzyme immunoassay (ELISA). The detection of HBV DNA was performed by real-time PCR using two specific primers for a gene in the region C of the viral genome. The sensitivity of the technique was 20 copies/ml.Results: A total of 82 samples were analyzed, 19 (23 %) were found to have isolated anti-HBc, 07 (8.5%) with associated anti-HBc and Anti-HBs. No anti-HCV marker was detected on these screening samples. The HBV DNA was detected in 48 (58%) samples, of which, males constituted 58% (28/48). The mean age of these patients was 38 ± 8.2 (29-56), the median HIV-1 viral load and CD4 cell count HIV-1 infected patients were 127500 (54108-325325) copies/ml and 243 [80-385] cells/mm3 respectively and 27.1% (13/48) of these patients were found to have isolated anti-HBc. A significant correlations between DNA HBV and HIV viral load higher than 100000 copies/ml (P = 0.004), CD4 cell count lower than 400 cells/mm3 (P = 0.013, P = 0.006) and isolated anti-HBc samples (P <0.005) were founded. However there was no significant association with age, sex, transmission mode and clinical stage.  Conclusion: The consequences of this high prevalence of OBI in Morocco need to be considered in laboratory diagnosis of HBV infection in HIV infected patients and the PCR seems to be inevitable for a better diagnosis and therapy.

L’occlusion intestinale aigue gravidique - à propos de cinq cas

L’occlusion intestinale survient rarement au cours de la grossesse mais elle s’accompagne d’une morbidité et mortalité maternelle et fœtale élevées souvent dues au retard diagnostic et thérapeutique. Les auteurs rapportent cinq cas d’obstruction intestinale gravidique, et revoient la littérature afin de discuter les mécanismes physiopathologiques, les difficultés diagnostiques et thérapeutiques et de proposer une conduite à tenir adéquate

HLA-B*44 allele associated with clinical parameters in HIV-1 infected Moroccan cohort

Background: The human leukocyte antigen-B*44 (HLA-B*44) allele has been reported to have promising results in the control of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection and associated with protection against HIV-1 disease progression. In the Moroccan HIV-1 infected patients, the contribution of this allele has not been established. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of HLA-B*44 allele among HIV-1-infected in Morocco. Additionally, investigate HLA-B*44 allele association with demographical and HIV clinical parameters.Methods: One hundred and sixty-seven HIV-1 infected, antiretroviral naive individuals were enrolled in this study. The HLA-B*44 allele screening was performed using the PCR amplification.Results: Of the 167 individuals genotyped, 26 (16%) of them expressing the HLA-B*44 allele. Clinical stages at diagnosis, median pre-treatment HIV viral load (pVL) and CD4 T cell counts differ significantly (p = 0.0001, p=0.001 and p=0.0001 respectively) between the patients who had been expressing the HLA-B*44 allele and patients who had not been expressing this allele. The presence of HLA-B*44 allele was significantly associated with pVL and CD4 T cell counts (p=0.004 and p=0.0001 respectively). The bivariate analysis has showed that the expression of the HLA-B*44 allele was strongly associated with advanced HIV infection (Odd ratio (OR) 0.12 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04-0.37), p=0.0001).Conclusions: Author have described for the first time in Morocco the association of the HLA-B*44 allele with the clinical parameters of HIV infection. These results expand the knowledge of the distribution and effect of this allele in the Moroccan population

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Bissau: à propos de quatre observations Case report Open Access

Abstract La mission humanitaire de notre hôpital militaire médico-chirurgicale en Guinée Bissau avait pour but le rapprochement des soins à la population