L’hygiène dans l’approvisionnement et la distribution de la viande de brousse à Brazzaville – Congo

Objectif : La consommation de la viande de chasse au Congo et particulièrement à Brazzaville prend de plus en plus d’ampleur du fait de la forte demande du produit. On est arrivé à se demander si cette viande arrive dans les lieux de commercialisation dans les conditions adéquates et sous surveillance sanitaire. La présente étude initiée dans ce sens se propose de connaitre les voies d’accès de la viande de chasse à Brazzaville et d’apprécier la qualité des emballages, les conditions transport, le type de conditionnement et les conditions de conservation qui peuvent d’une part, présenter des risques de contamination pour la viande de chasse et d’autre part, constituer des conditions favorables à la contamination. Methodologie et résultats : La méthode de collecte de données a consisté à réaliser une enquête impliquant les acteurs à tous les niveaux du circuit de distribution de la viande de chasse. Cette enquête a consisté à administrer un questionnaire assez détaillé sur les voies d’accès et les modalités de ravitaillement en viande de chasse, aux vendeurs de viande dans les marchés, aux transporteurs du produit, aux grossistes et aux magasiniers, personnes auprès desquels les vendeurs confient les produits à conserver. L’enquête a duré 30 jours et s’est déroulé dans les 7 arrondissements que compte la ville de Brazzaville. Elle a concernée 157 acteurs oeuvrant dans l’approvisionnement (ravitaillement) et la vente de la viande de brousse à savoir ; les fournisseurs, les restaurateurs, les magasiniers, les vendeurs détaillants, les chauffeurs des moyens de transport, le personnel gérant les compagnies de transport aérien, les propriétaires des moyens navigants et les fonctionnaires en charge de l’hygiène et de l’assainissement. L’enquête s’est déroulée sur la base des contacts individuels afin de recueillir les opinons personnelles concernant les modalités d’approvisionnement, de transport, de distribution et d’emmagasinage de la viande de chasse. Cette enquête a pris en compte les caractéristiques sociodémographiques en relation avec l’approvisionnement, le transport, la distribution et l’emmagasinage de la viande de chasse dans la ville de Brazzaville. La population concernée est dominée à 55,70% par les femmes. La viande de chasse arrive à Brazzaville par 6 axes principaux. Il s’agit de 3 voies terrestres (routes nationales 1 & 2, route de Mayama), la voie ferrée, la voie navale et la voie aérienne. Concernant le transport, Il n’existe pas de moyens (véhicules) appropriés affectés au transport de la viande de brousse et les conditions de transport actuelles ne sont pas adaptées au transport de cet aliment destiné à la consommation. Les objets utilisés comme emballages sont des matériaux recyclés dont le plus usité (31,15%), est le sac en jute synthétique couramment désigné en langue locale par sac ‘’nguiri’’. Malgré cette prédominance, le sac ‘’nguiri’ comme les autres matériaux ne remplissent pas les qualités exigés à un objet pour qu’il joue véritablement le rôle dévolue à un emballage. Conclusion et application : En conclusion, des investigations ont été faites et ont permis d’identifier les voies d’accès de la viande de chasse et d’aider à cerner les conditions pouvant constituer les sources probables de contamination de la viande de chasse par les micro-organismes du sol. Il s’agira pour la suite des travaux d’établir en laboratoire et à partir des échantillons prélevés la qualité des micro-organismes pathogènes qui infestent la viande de chasse pendant son transport. Mots clés : Voies d’accès, commerce, viande de chasse, Brazzaville-Cong

Evaluation of psychological support for victims of sexual violence in a conflict setting: results from Brazzaville, Congo

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Little is known about the impact of psychological support in war and transcultural contexts and in particular, whether there are lasting benefits. Here, we present an evaluation of the late effect of post-rape psychological support provided to women in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. METHODS: Women who attended the Médecins Sans Frontières program for sexual violence in Brazzaville during the conflict were selected to evaluate the psychological consequences of rape and the late effect of post-rape psychological support. A total of 178 patients met the eligibility criteria: 1) Women aged more than 15 years; 2) raped by unknown person(s) wearing military clothes; 3) admitted to the program between the 1/1/2002 and the 30/4/2003; and 4) living in Brazzaville. RESULTS: The initial diagnosis according to DSM criteria showed a predominance of anxious disorders (54.1%) and acute stress disorders (24.6%). One to two years after the initial psychological care, 64 women were evaluated using the Trauma Screening Questionnaire (TSQ), the Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF) and an assessment scale to address medico-psychological care in emergencies (EUMP). Two patients (3.1%) met the needed criteria for PTSD diagnosis from the TSQ. Among the 56 women evaluated using GAF both as pre and post-test, global functioning was significantly improved by initial post-rape support (50 women (89.3%) had extreme or medium impairment at first post-rape evaluation, and 16 (28.6%) after psychological care; p = 0.04). When interviewed one to two years later, the benefit was fully maintained (16 women (28.6%) presenting extreme or medium impairment). CONCLUSION: We found the benefits of post-rape psychological support to be present and lasting in this conflict situation. However, we were unable to evaluate all women for the long-term impact, underscoring the difficulty of leading evaluation studies in unstable contexts. Future research is needed to validate these findings in other settings

Mapping Water Levels across a Region of the Cuvette Centrale Peatland Complex

Inundation dynamics are the primary control on greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands. Situated in the central Congo Basin, the Cuvette Centrale is the largest tropical peatland complex. However, our knowledge of the spatial and temporal variations in its water levels is limited. By addressing this gap, we can quantify the relationship between the Cuvette Centrale’s water levels and greenhouse gas emissions, and further provide a baseline from which deviations caused by climate or land-use change can be observed, and their impacts understood. We present here a novel approach that combines satellite-derived rainfall, evapotranspiration and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to estimate spatial and temporal changes in water level across a sub-region of the Cuvette Centrale. Our key outputs are a map showing the spatial distribution of rainfed and flood-prone locations and a daily, 100 m resolution map of peatland water levels. This map is validated using satellite altimetry data and in situ water table data from water loggers. We determine that 50% of peatlands within our study area are largely rainfed, and a further 22.5% are somewhat rainfed, receiving hydrological input mostly from rainfall (directly and via surface/sub-surface inputs in sloped areas). The remaining 27.5% of peatlands are mainly situated in riverine floodplain areas to the east of the Congo River and between the Ubangui and Congo rivers. The mean amplitude of the water level across our study area and over a 20-month period is 22.8 ± 10.1 cm to 1 standard deviation. Maximum temporal variations in water levels occur in the riverine floodplain areas and in the inter-fluvial region between the Ubangui and Congo rivers. Our results show that spatial and temporal changes in water levels can be successfully mapped over tropical peatlands using the pattern of net water input (rainfall minus evapotranspiration, not accounting for run-off) and L-band SAR data

Efficient and Specific Internal Cleavage of a Retroviral Palindromic DNA Sequence by Tetrameric HIV-1 Integrase

BACKGROUND: HIV-1 integrase (IN) catalyses the retroviral integration process, removing two nucleotides from each long terminal repeat and inserting the processed viral DNA into the target DNA. It is widely assumed that the strand transfer step has no sequence specificity. However, recently, it has been reported by several groups that integration sites display a preference for palindromic sequences, suggesting that a symmetry in the target DNA may stabilise the tetrameric organisation of IN in the synaptic complex. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We assessed the ability of several palindrome-containing sequences to organise tetrameric IN and investigated the ability of IN to catalyse DNA cleavage at internal positions. Only one palindromic sequence was successfully cleaved by IN. Interestingly, this symmetrical sequence corresponded to the 2-LTR junction of retroviral DNA circles-a palindrome similar but not identical to the consensus sequence found at integration sites. This reaction depended strictly on the cognate retroviral sequence of IN and required a full-length wild-type IN. Furthermore, the oligomeric state of IN responsible for this cleavage differed from that involved in the 3'-processing reaction. Palindromic cleavage strictly required the tetrameric form, whereas 3'-processing was efficiently catalysed by a dimer. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings suggest that the restriction-like cleavage of palindromic sequences may be a general physiological activity of retroviral INs and that IN tetramerisation is strongly favoured by DNA symmetry, either at the target site for the concerted integration or when the DNA contains the 2-LTR junction in the case of the palindromic internal cleavage

Aerosol optical properties derived from POLDER-3/PARASOL (2005–2013) over the western Mediterranean Sea – Part 1: Quality assessment with AERONET and in situ airborne observations

International audienceThe western Mediterranean atmosphere is im-pacted by a variety of aerosol sources, producing a complex and variable mixture of natural and anthropogenic particles, with different chemical and physical properties. Satellite sensors provide a useful global coverage of aerosol parameters but through indirect measurements that require careful validation. Here we present the results of a long-term regional scale analysis of the full dataset (March 2005 and Octo-ber 2013) of POLDER-3/PARASOL ocean operational retrievals of the total, fine, and coarse aerosol optical depth (AOD, AOD F , and AOD C), Ångström exponent (AE), and the spherical or non-spherical partition of coarse-mode AOD (AOD CS and AOD CNS), respectively. The evaluation is performed using data from 17 coastal and insular ground-based AERONET sites on one side, and airborne vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and number size distribution obtained by the SAFIRE ATR-42 aircraft operated in the area during summer 2012 and 2013 on the other side. This study provides the first regional evaluation of uncertainties of the POLDER-3 products, and highlights their quality. The POLDER-3 Ångström exponent, representing AOD spectral dependence in link with the aerosol particle size distribution, is biased towards small values. This bias, however, does not prevent using AE for classifying the regional aerosol laden air masses. AOD F corresponds to particles smaller than 0.6-0.8 µm in diameter and appears suitable to monitor the aerosol submicron fraction from space. We also provide an original validation of POLDER-3 AOD C and its spherical or non-spherical partition , which shows agreement within 25 % with AERONET shape retrievals when the aerosol coarse fraction dominates