Kyste géant para-urétral feminine

Le kyste géant para-urétral féminin infecté est rarement rapporté dans la littérature. Ce kyste est différent du diverticule sous urétral sur le plan clinique, diagnostique et thérapeutique. Sa pathogénie se confond avec celle  des diverticules sous urétraux. Son traitement n’est pas bien codifié, vu sa rareté. Nous rapportons un cas atypique de kyste géant para urétral infecté chez une jeune femme de 26 ans. Le kyste était  symptomatique et la patiente a eu un traitement chirurgical. Nous discutons les aspects cliniques,  diagnostiques et thérapeutiques de cette entité rare à travers une revue de la littérature.Key words: Kyste géant, para urétral, féminin, chirurgi

The Wolbachia endosymbiont as an anti-filarial nematode target

Human disease caused by parasitic filarial nematodes is a major cause of global morbidity. The parasites are transmitted by arthropod intermediate hosts and are responsible for lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) or onchocerciasis (river blindness). Within these filarial parasites are intracellular alpha-proteobacteria, Wolbachia, that were first observed almost 30 years ago. The obligate endosymbiont has been recognized as a target for anti-filarial nematode chemotherapy as evidenced by the loss of worm fertility and viability upon antibiotic treatment in an extensive series of human trials. While current treatments with doxycycline and rifampicin are not practical for widespread use due to the length of required treatments and contraindications, anti-Wolbachia targeting nevertheless appears a promising alternative for filariasis control in situations where current programmatic strategies fail or are unable to be delivered and it provides a superior efficacy for individual therapy. The mechanisms that underlie the symbiotic relationship between Wolbachia and its nematode hosts remain elusive. Comparative genomics, bioinfomatic and experimental analyses have identified a number of potential interactions, which may be drug targets. One candidate is de novo heme biosynthesis, due to its absence in the genome sequence of the host nematode, Brugia malayi, but presence in Wolbachia and its potential roles in worm biology. We describe this and several additional candidate targets, as well as our approaches for understanding the nature of the host-symbiont relationship

Setting a baseline for global urban virome surveillance in sewage

The rapid development of megacities, and their growing connectedness across the world is becoming a distinct driver for emerging disease outbreaks. Early detection of unusual disease emergence and spread should therefore include such cities as part of risk-based surveillance. A catch-all metagenomic sequencing approach of urban sewage could potentially provide an unbiased insight into the dynamics of viral pathogens circulating in a community irrespective of access to care, a potential which already has been proven for the surveillance of poliovirus. Here, we present a detailed characterization of sewage viromes from a snapshot of 81 high density urban areas across the globe, including in-depth assessment of potential biases, as a proof of concept for catch-all viral pathogen surveillance. We show the ability to detect a wide range of viruses and geographical and seasonal differences for specific viral groups. Our findings offer a cross-sectional baseline for further research in viral surveillance from urban sewage samples and place previous studies in a global perspective

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

Sélection de variétés d'oignon (Allium cepa L.) adaptées au nord de la Côte d'Ivoire

Selection of Varieties Onion (Allium cepa L.) Adapted to the North of Ivory Coast. Sixteen varieties of onion from the collection of the National Agronomical Research Center were evaluated on the basis of their performance in the North of Ivory Coast, during the agricultural season 1998- 1999. This evaluation was made in the presence of a local control, Violet de Galmi, at the station of production of onion seeds of the Rural Development Support National Agency. Varieties Rouge de Tana, RCS1903, RCS2211 and RCS2302 gave a higher rate of healthy bulbs (64.07% on average) than the others. For the total yield, varieties RCS1903, RCS2211 and RCS2302 produced more (18.18 t/ha on average) than Violet de Galmi (14.58 t/ha). The latter was more productive than Rouge de Tana (12.56 t/ha). However only the purple variety, Rouge de Tana had a high content of dry matter (20.86%) and was good preserved with nearly 95% of healthy bulbs after 3 months of storage, like the local control. Significant correlations appeared between the various studied characters. The most significant correlation was observed between the date of harvest and the percentage of layering at 100 days (r= -0.858); and the rate of healthy bulbs after 3 months of storage and the content of dry matter (r= 0.847)