El Niño Southern Oscillation and Leptospirosis Outbreaks in New Caledonia

<div><p>Leptospirosis is an important cause of seasonal outbreaks in New Caledonia and the tropics. Using time series derived from high-quality laboratory-based surveillance from 2000–2012, we evaluated whether climatic factors, including El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and meteorological conditions allow for the prediction of leptospirosis outbreaks in New Caledonia. We found that La Niña periods are associated with high rainfall, and both of these factors were in turn, temporally associated with outbreaks of leptospirosis. The sea surface temperature in El Niño Box 4 allowed forecasting of leptospirosis outbreaks four months into the future, a time lag allowing public health authorities to increase preparedness. To our knowledge, our observations in New Caledonia are the first demonstration that ENSO has a strong association with leptospirosis. This association should be tested in other regions in the South Pacific, Asia or Latin America where ENSO may drive climate variability and the risk for leptospirosis outbreaks.</p></div

Seasonal baseline (solid line) and upper limit of the 95% confidence interval (dashed line).

<p>The observed number of leptospirosis cases in each month is shown for 2007–2012. Blue circles indicate months that had been forecasted to be below the epidemic threshold and red crosses indicate months where the forecast predicted an epidemic. When the red crosses are above the 95% confidence interval, this indicates that the forecast had correctly predicted an epidemic intensity in that month.</p

The Limitations of the Rheumatogenic Concept for Group A Streptococcus :Systematic Review and Genetic Analysis

Background and Objective:The concept that a minority of Group A streptococcus (GAS) emm-types are more “rheumatogenic” than others is widely disseminated. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive list of ARF-associated strains and analyze their genetic diversity. Methods: All articles reporting ARF-associated strains or ARF-associated emm-type-specific antibody responses were identified in Pubmed from 01/01/1944 (first publication of Jones criteria) to 31/12/2016. The revised Jones Criteria (American Heart Association, 2015) were used to define ARF and a maximum time-period of four weeks between microbiological characterization and ARF onset was accepted. A database of 175 M-protein sequences was used to analyze the genetic diversity of ARF-associated strains in a PhyML phylogenetic tree. Geneious software was used to search for the presence of putative ARF-associated motifs (PARF motif and two proposed rheumatogenic peptides).Results:Thirty-six relevant studies were identified among 677 publications. 440 ARF-associated isolates belonging to 66 different emm-types were included in the analysis. The classical “rheumatogenic” emm-types represented 41% of the 440 ARF-associated isolates and 14% of the 66 identified emm-types. When the classical rheumatogenic emm-type were mapped by specific clade onto the emm-cluster-type phylogenetic tree, ARF-associated emm-types were disseminated along the tree suggesting ARF-associated strains belong to various genetic backgrounds. ARF-associated motifsOral presentationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Observed (grey) and predicted (red) cases of leptospirosis occurring in each month in New Caledonia, 2000–2012.

<p>Observed (grey) and predicted (red) cases of leptospirosis occurring in each month in New Caledonia, 2000–2012.</p

The Limitations of the Rheumatogenic Concept for Group A Streptococcus: Systematic Review and Genetic Analysis.

The concept that a minority of group A streptococcus (GAS) emm types are more "rheumatogenic" than others has been widely disseminated. We aimed to provide a comprehensive list of acute rheumatic fever-associated GAS isolates and assess the presence of associated rheumatogenic motifs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The emm-cluster typing system for group A Streptococcus identifies epidemiologic similarities across the Pacific region.

 Group A Streptococcus (GAS) related disease is responsible for high mortality and morbidity in the Pacific region. The high diversity of circulating strains in this region has hindered vaccine development due to apparently low vaccine coverage of type-specific vaccines.JOURNAL ARTICLESCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Estimate of male urethritis incidences in France between 2007 and 2017 with a specific focus on Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Trichomonas vaginalis infections

International audienceBACKGROUND:In a context of increasing use of Nucleic Acid Amplification Test, diagnoses of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis infections among men increased in Europe and USA since 2007. We aimed to describe trends in the incidence of male urethritis in France between 2007 and 2017.METHODS:We analysed male urethritis clinical cases reported by the French GPs' Sentinelles network.RESULTS:GPs reported 1944 cases of male urethritis during the study period. The estimated annual incidence rates in men aged 15 years and older remained stable between 226 cases per 100,000 seen in 2007 and 196 in 2017 (P value = 0.9). A third-generation cephalosporin with macrolide or tetracycline was prescribed in 17.5% of cases in 2009 (27/154) and 32.4% in 2017 (47/145) (P value = 0.0327).CONCLUSIONS:The incidence rates for adult male urethritis diagnosed in primary care have remained stable since 2007 in France in contrast with the increasing trend of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis infections based on microbiological surveillance. Using stable clinical definition for male urethritis seems essential to follow correctly epidemiological dynamic

Chikungunya Virus and the Mosquito Vector Aedes aegypti in New Caledonia (South Pacific Region).

International audienceAbstract Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is transmitted to humans through the bite of Aedes mosquitoes. During the 2005-2006 epidemic that occurred in the Indian Ocean Islands, a viral strain harboring a substitution of an alanine to valine at position 226 (E1-A226V) of the E1 glycoprotein enhanced the transmissibility of CHIKV by Aedes albopictus. In March 2011, autochthonous transmission of CHIKV was reported in New Caledonia (NC), an island located in the southwest Pacific Ocean. This was the first report of local chikungunya (CHIK) transmission in this region of the world. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome demonstrated that the CHIKV-NC strain isolated from the first autochthonous human case belongs to the Asian lineage. This is consistent with the Indonesian origin of CHIK cases previously imported and detected. Thus the CHIKV-NC does not present a valine substitution at position E1-226. In New Caledonia, the putative vector of CHIKV is Aedes aegypti, since no other potential vector has ever been described. For example, A. albopictus is not found in NC. Vector competence experiments showed that A. aegypti from New Caledonia was able to transmit, as early as 3 days post-infection, two CHIKV strains: CHIKV-NC belonging to the Asian lineage, and CHIKV-RE from Reunion Island harboring the E1-A226V mutation. Thus the extrinsic incubation period of both CHIKV strains in this vector species could be considered to be quite short. These results illustrate the threat of the spread of CHIKV in the South Pacific region. From February to June 2011 (the end of the alert), only 33 cases were detected. Implementation of drastic vector control measures and the occurrence of the cold season probably helped to limit the extent of the outbreak, but other factors may have also been involved and are discussed