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

Normes et subjectivité – réflexions sur les traductions anglaise et française de Ra’aytu Ramallah

Introduction Les présentes réflexions s’inscrivent dans le cadre des études traductologiques centrées sur une problématique de l’intervention du traducteur dans des situations de conflit. La mise en regard d’un ouvrage de langue arabe, le récit autobiographique du poète et auteur palestinien Mourid Barghouti, Ra ’aytu Ramallah, et de ses traductions, que nous devons à l’écrivain Ahdaf Soueif, pour la version anglaise, et à Maha Billacois et Zeinab Zaza pour le texte français, nous servira à e..

L’autocensure et la représentation de l’altérité dans le récit de voyage de rifā’a rāfi’ al-TahTāwī (1826-1831)

Figure emblématique de la renaissance arabe du dix-neuvième siècle, le traducteur, formateur et essayiste al-TahTāwī (1801-1873) a rédigé une relation de voyage et une description de Paris (1826-1831) qui illustrent de manière convaincante les rapports qui lient traduction et récits de voyages dans une entreprise de représentation de l’Autre. Membre d’une mission étudiante, qui s’inscrit dans le programme de modernisation lancé par le khédive MuHammad ‘Alī, al-TahTāwī se donne pour tâche, dans ce récit de voyage, de décrire la France, et plus particulièrement Paris, et de brosser un tableau de la vie politique et culturelle du lieu et de l’époque. Notre propos est double. Il s’agit tout d’abord de dégager la manière dont s’élaborent cette représentation et ce projet encyclopédique qui font intervenir une sélection de faits à rapporter, de textes à traduire et de stratégies de traduction à retenir. Dans un deuxième temps, nous cernons dans quelle mesure il s’exerce une autocensure préventive, dictée par des enjeux socio-culturels et politiques, qui va jouer un rôle non négligeable dans cette entreprise et être mise au service d’une acceptation de l’Autre. Outre le témoignage historique que constitue cette oeuvre – ouverture de l’Égypte sur l’Europe et les courants libéraliste et orientaliste en France –, l’effort de syncrétisme qu’elle évoque, et qui passe par l’autocensure et l’aménagement des textes en fonction de contraintes diverses (Lefevere, 1992), s’avère particulièrement pertinent à une époque où il est de bon ton de parler du « choc des civilisations ».An emblematic figure of the Arab renaissance in the nineteenth century, the translator, teacher and essayist al-TahTāwī (1801-1873) wrote a travelogue and a description of Paris (1826-1831) that convincingly illustrate the relation that binds translation and travel writing as an undertaking in the representation of the Other. One of a group of students enrolled in the modernisation programme launched by the khedive MuHammad ‘Alī, al-TahTāwī set out, in his travel writing, to paint a detailed portrait of the political and cultural life of France, and more specifically Paris, during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Our purpose is two-fold. First, we outline the development of this representation and the encyclopaedic project that involve a selection of facts to report, texts to translate and translation strategies to retain. Second, we examine the degree to which the translator’s preventive self-censorship, dictated by socio-cultural and political factors, played a significant role in this undertaking and was used to promote the acceptance of the Other. Beyond the contribution to history that this work represents—Egypt opening its doors to Europe and Liberal and Orientalist movements in France—, the syncretism effort that it evokes, and that is subjected to self-censorship and textual rewriting in keeping with various constraints (Lefevere, 1992), turns out to be particularly pertinent during a period when it is good form to talk in terms of “clash of civilizations.