Rachitisme patent révélé par la perte du contrôle des convulsions chez un garçon infirme moteur cérébral

La perte du contrôle des crises chez un patient compliant au traitement est toujours source de préoccupations diagnostiques, thérapeutiques et pronostiques. Nous rapportons un cas de rachitisme chez un patient de 4 ans, infirme moteur cérébral et épileptique sous traitement par phénobarbital depuis 2 ans; rachitisme découvert à la faveur d'une perte du contrôle épileptique. Le patient était admis pour des convulsions répétées en contexte afébrile. L'observance thérapeutique était bonne, et aucune convulsion n'avait été observée pendant les 12 mois précédents. Il ne recevait pas de vitamine D. Le rachitisme était suspecté cliniquement, et confirmé par les trouvailles radiologiques et biologiques. Le contrôle des crises était retrouvé dès le 3ème jour d'hospitalisation après apports de calcium intraveineux et de vitamine D. Les convulsions étaient imputées à une hypocalcémie sur rachitisme. La prise prolongée de phénobarbital sans supplémentation en vitamine D, ainsi qu'une exposition solaire insuffisante étaient incriminées. Avant toute escalade thérapeutique, des convulsions hypocalcémiques et un rachitisme doivent toujours être exclus devant une perte du contrôle des crises chez tout patient épileptique à mobilité réduite. Par ailleurs, une supplémentation en vitamine D et une exposition suffisante au soleil devront être recommandées pour certains traitements antiépileptiques au long cours.Pan African Medical Journal 2013; 14:2

Ectopia cordis : a report of two cases in Cameroon

This article reports two cases of ectopia cordis in two children aged one day and twenty months respectively. A one day old newborn had complete thoracic ectopia cordis associated with an internal cardiac defect and severe thoracic and abdominal wall malformations. The centre does not have the facilities to manage complex congenital defects and prior to being transferred to a cardiac centre, the neonate died on the second day of admission. A 20-month old baby had partial ectopia of the heart and a defect in the abdominal wall. He had no major congenital cardiac defect and has remained clinically stable with no life threatening symptomspeer-reviewe

Les maladies rares et leurs manifestations cliniques orales dans deux formations hospitalières de Yaoundé

Introduction: les maladies rares ont pour certaines des manifestations orales. Celles-ci sont souvent sous-étudiées; ce qui contribue à limiter l'offre de soins bucco-dentaires pour cette catégorie de patients. Le but est de déterminer les aspects épidémiologiques et cliniques des manifestations bucco-dentaires dans les maladies rares dans notre milieu. Méthodes: nous avons effectué une étude transversale et descriptive sur une durée de 04 mois, dans deux hôpitaux de référence de Yaoundé: les informations ont été recueillies des dossiers médicaux, de l'interrogatoire des parents ou tuteurs et de l'examen bucco-dentaire des patients. Le seuil de significativité considéré pour p < 0.05. Résultats: les manifestations orales sur maladies rares sont variables et fonction du groupe d'affections, de la denture, et ont souvent un retentissement fonctionnel. Elles étaient présentes dans 97,2% de nos patients. En denture temporaire (59,4%), c'était plus des anomalies de forme et de position dentaire (conicité dentaire 7 cas/22, soit 32%), et en denture permanente des lésions carieuses (7 cas/10 soit 70%) et des anomalies de structure dentaire (4 cas/10 d'usure dentaire). Un lien significatif existait entre le type de denture, l'anomalie de structure (p=0,001) et de nombre (p=0,018). Les difficultés à la mastication (p=0,023) et à la succion (p=0,033) étaient liées aux groupes de maladies rares. Conclusion: les lésions orales dans les maladies rares bien que présentes dans notre milieu, sont souvent négligées. Les soins bucco-dentaires devraient être intégrés dans le paquet minimum des activités des formations sanitaires et rendus gratuits ou financièrement accessibles à ces patients handicapés ou présentant des besoins spécifiques

Échecs thérapeutiques chez les enfants infectés par le VIH en suivi de routine dans un contexte à ressources limitées au Cameroun

Introduction: L'objectif de cette étude était de déterminer les facteurs associés aux échecs thérapeutiques chez les enfants infectés par le VIH à l'Hôpital Laquintinie de Douala.Méthodes: Une étude transversale rétrospective a été menée sur une période de 5 mois en 2010, recrutant 222 enfants âgés de 1 à 18 ans et sous TARV depuis au moins 24 semaines. Les données  sociodémographiques, cliniques, biologiques et de l'observance thérapeutique des patients ont été collectés à partir des dossiers des patients, et analysées avec le logiciel SPSS (version 16).Résultats: 39 (17,6%) des enfants étaient en échec thérapeutique (délai moyen de survenue 26,8 mois) et 73,4% d'entre eux sont passés en seconde ligne. Les garçons avaient en moyenne un risque 5 fois plus élevé de faire un échec thérapeutique que les filles (OR=3,9; p=0,035). 94,4% des enfants suivis avaient un faible taux de CD4 à l'initiation (' 25%) associé au risque élevé d'échec thérapeutique (OR=5,2; p=0,007).  Les enfants issus de famille monoparentale représentaient près de la moitié des cas d'échecs thérapeutiques. Sur 39 cas en échec thérapeutique, 41% des enfants étaient des orphelins. Parmi les enfants sous TARV, 46% prenaient leur trithérapie sous forme de médicaments séparés parmi lesquels 52,1% étaient en échec thérapeutique. Conclusion: Les échecs thérapeutiques et le passage en seconde ligne dépendaient du contexte familial des enfants, de leur statut immunologique à l'initiation du traitement, de leur sexe et de la forme galénique du TARV.Key words: VIH, enfants, échec thérapeutiqu

Reviewing the Insights of Confinement and Social Distancing as Measures Involved in the Prevention of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Confinement and social distancing have been widely used in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic, as interventions consisting in reducing physical contact between individuals to prevent the spread of the disease. In order to demonstrate the pattern of these measures, we did a review of pertinent articles on the subject available online. We found that though confinement and social distancing significantly contributed to the mitigation of the COVID-19 infection in a number of countries worldwide, there however exist a dilemma in choosing between the expected benefits and adverse effects, especially when applied on a large scale. Thus considerations with regards to socio-anthropological and politico-economic impacts should be considered in order to protect citizens, especially the vulnerable. Besides, population information, education and communication helps to increase adherence and observation of recommendations. However, further improvements need to be implemented in other to render these measures more bearable and less restrictive while ameliorating their efficacy

Riverbed Sediments as Reservoirs of Multiple Vibrio cholerae

Africa remains the most cholera stricken continent in the world as many people lacking access to safe drinking water rely mostly on polluted rivers as their main water sources. However, studies in these countries investigating the presence of Vibrio cholerae in aquatic environments have paid little attention to bed sediments. Also, information on the presence of virulence-associated genes (VAGs) in environmental ctx-negative V. cholerae strains in this region is lacking. Thus, we investigated the presence of V. cholerae VAGs in water and riverbed sediment of the Apies River, South Africa. Altogether, 120 samples (60 water and 60 sediment samples) collected from ten sites on the river (January and February 2014) were analysed using PCR. Of the 120 samples, 37 sediment and 31 water samples were positive for at least one of the genes investigated. The haemolysin gene (hlyA) was the most isolated gene. The cholera toxin (ctxAB) and non-O1 heat-stable (stn/sto) genes were not detected. Genes were frequently detected at sites influenced by human activities. Thus, identification of V. cholerae VAGs in sediments suggests the possible presence of V. cholerae and identifies sediments of the Apies River as a reservoir for potentially pathogenic V. cholerae with possible public health implications

Evaluation of treatment response, drug resistance and HIV-1 variability among adolescents on first- And second-line antiretroviral therapy: A study protocol for a prospective observational study in the centre region of Cameroon (EDCTP READY-study)

BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa (SSA) alone has nine out of every 10 children living with HIV globally and monitoring in this setting remains suboptimal, even as these children grow older. With scalability of antiretroviral therapy (ART), several HIV-infected children are growing towards adolescence (over 2.1 million), with the potentials to reach adulthood. However, despite an overall reduction in HIV-related mortality, there are increasing deaths among adolescents living with HIV (ADLHIV), with limited evidence for improved policy-making. Of note, strategies for adolescent transition from pediatrics to adult-healthcare are critical to ensure successful treatment response and longer life expectancy. Interestingly, with uptakes in prevention of mother-to-child transmission, challenges in ART programs, and high viremia among children in SSA, the success rate of paediatric ART might be quickly jeopardised, with possible HIV-1 drug-resistance (HIVDR) emergence, especially after years of paediatric ART exposure. Therefore, monitoring ART response in adolescents and evaluating HIVDR patterns might limit disease progression and guide on subsequent ART options for SSA ADLHIV.ObjectivesAmong Cameroonian ADLHIV receiving ART, we shall evaluate the rate of immunovirologic failure, acquired HIVDR-associated mutations, HIV-1 subtype distribution, genetic variability in circulating (plasma) versus archived (cellular) viral strains, and HIVDR early warning indicators (EWIs) at different time-points.MethodsA prospective and observational study will be conducted among 250 ADLHIV (10-19years old) receiving ART in the centre region of Cameroon, and followed-up at 6 and 12months after enrollment. Following consecutive sampling at enrolment, plasma viral load and CD4/CD8 count will be measured, and genotypic resistance testing (GRT) will be performed both in plasma and in buffy coat for participants experiencing virological failure (two consecutive viremia >=1000 copies/ml). Plasma viral load and CD4/CD8 will be monitored for all participants at 6 and 12months after enrolment. HIVDR-EWIs will be monitored and survival analysis performed during the 12months follow-up. Primary outcomes are rates of virological failure, acquired-HIVDR, and mortality.DiscussionOur findings will provide evidence-based recommendations to ensure successful transition from paediatrics to adult ART regimens and highlight further needs of active ART combinations, for reduced morbidity and mortality in populations of ADLHIV within SSA

Removal of pharmaceutical' estrogenic activity of sequencing batch reactor effluents assessed in the T47D-KBluc report

Various water treatment processes may be ineffective to remove pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) and their by-products, leading to endocrine-disruptive activity that might be detrimental to wildlife and human health. This study investigated the degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DCF), ibuprofen (IBP), and their intermediates, as well as estrogenic activity that is not effectively removed by conventional methods. A consortium of isolated South African indigenous fungi A. niger, M. circinelloides, T. polyzona, T. longibrachiatum and R. microsporus, was used in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to remove PhCs, their intermediates and strongly reduce their estrogenic activity. The fungal ligninolytic enzymatic activity was determined for laccase (Lac), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and lignin peroxidase (LiP) using a spectrophotometric method. The biodegradation of PhCs and their intermediates was monitored by SPE-UPLC/MS. The in vitro estrogenic activity was assessed in the T47D-KBluc reporter gene assay. Lac, MnP and LiP production appeared to be biomass growth dependent. During a lag phase of growth, a constant biomass of about 122.04 mg/100 mL was recorded with average enzymatic activity around 63.62 U/L for Lac, 151.91 U/L for MnP and 42.12 U/L for LiP. The exponential growth phase from day 7 to day 17, was characterised by a biomass increase of 124.46 units, and an increase in enzymatic activity of 9.91 units for Lac, 99.03 units for MnP and 44.24 units for LiP. These enzymes played an important synergistic role in PhCs degradation in the cytochrome P450 system. A decrease of 13.89%, 29.7% and 16.15% in PhC concentrations was observed for CBZ, DCF and IBP, respectively, and their intermediates were identified within 4 h of incubation. The removal efficiency achieved after 24 h in the SBR was about 89.77%, 95.8% and 91.41% for CBZ, DCF and IBP, respectively. The estradiol equivalent (EEq) values of 1.71 ± 0.30 ng/L and 2.69 ± 0.17 ng/L were recorded at the start-up time and after 4 h, respectively. The presence of intermediates was found to induce estrogenic activity. The EEq values after 24 h incubation was found to be below the LoQ and below the LoD of the assay. None of the samples exhibited any anti-estrogenic activity. The fungal consortium inoculum was found to induce toxicity at a 0.4× concentration, as observed under a microscope. This study revealed that the use of the fungal consortium can remove the estrogenic activity of pharmaceutical metabolites, which appeared to be the most significant contributors to the endocrine-disrupting activity of the wastewater treatment plant effluents.The Department of Environment, Water and Earth Sciences of the Tshwane University of Technology and grants from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) through the South African Research Chairs Initiative in Water Quality and Wastewater Management (SARChI, grant number 87310) at the Faculty of Science, Tshwane University of Technology.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvmanhj2020Urolog