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Introduction: The retention in care of patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a cornerstone for preventing AIDS-associated morbidity and mortality, as well as further transmission of HIV. Adherence to ART poses particular challenges in conflict-affected settings like the Central African Republic (CAR). The study objective was to estimate the rate of lost-to-follow-up (LTFU) and determine factors associated with LTFU among patients living with HIV under ART in CAR., Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using data from patients being managed at 42 representative ART dispensing sites (i.e. management of ≥200 patients) in the seven health regions of CAR which started ART between January 2019 to September 2021 and followed up to December 2021. The outcome of LTFU was defined as a failure of a patient to attend a scheduled ART refill appointment for at least 90 days from the last appointment. Patients were censored at the first LTFU event., Results: A total of 6844 patients enrolled in ART care were included in the analysis, of whom 67.5% were females. The mean age (standard deviation) was 35.3 years (10.5). Forty-two per cent (n = 2874/6844) had an LTFU event during the follow-up period. However, 23.2% (n = 666/2874) returned to care after LTFU. Overall retention in antiretroviral care at 12 months was 64.2% (CI 63.0-65.5), which ranged from 76.1% in the capital to 48.2% in the inner country region. Risk factors related to LTFU were being male (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.33; CI 1.1-1.5), age < 25 (aHR 1.46; CI 1.1-1.9), living in regions outside the capital (aHR 1.83; CI 1.6-2.3) and undernutrition (aHR 1.13; CI 1.0-1.3)., Conclusions: Retention to care in CAR is suboptimal, especially in the inner country. Our results underline the difficulties involved in retaining patients in ART in complex settings, the interplay between poor retention, social unrest, stigma, food insecurity and HIV epidemic control, and the need for tailored programming and interventions like differentiated treatment strategies and complementary food provision., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of the International AIDS Society published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International AIDS Society.)

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-35 accounts for up 10% of cervical cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa. We herein assessed the genetic diversity of HPV35 in HIV-negative women from Chad (identified as #CHAD) and HIV-infected men having sex with men (MSM) in the Central African Republic (CAR), identified as #CAR. Ten HPV35 DNA from self-collected genital secretions (n = 5) and anal margin samples (n = 5) obtained from women and MSM, respectively, were sequenced using the ABI PRISM® BigDye Sequencing technology. All but one HPV35 strains belonged to the A2 sublineage, and only #CAR5 belonged to A1. HPV35 from #CAR had higher L1 variability compared to #CHAD (mean number of mutations: 16 versus 6). L1 of #CAR5 showed a significant variability (2.29%), suggesting a possible intra-type divergence from HPV35H. Three (BC, DE, and EF) out of the 5 capsid loops domains remained totally conserved, while FG- and HI- loops of #CAR exhibited amino acid variations. #CAR5 also showed the highest LCR variability with a 16bp insertion at binding sites of the YY1. HPV35 from #CHAD exhibited the highest variability in E2 gene (P<0.05). E6 and E7 oncoproteins remained well conserved. There is a relative maintenance of a well conserved HPV35 A2 sublineage within heterosexual women in Chad and MSM with HIV in the Central African Republic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Mboumba Bouassa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in the Central African Republic (CAR) with an incidence rate of 391 per 100,000 population in 2015. This study aims to analyze current epidemiological and clinical features of TB at the Hôpital de l'Amitié in the Central African Republic. We conducted an analytic retrospective study of patients hospitalized in the Department of Medicine at the Hôpital de l'Amitié from 15 April 2010 to 14 October 2011. Data were collected using a questionnaire and then analyzed with Epi info software 3.5.3. Chi-square test was used to compare proportions, using a threshold significance level of 5%. The study included 220 patients, of whom 128 were women (58.18%). The average age of patients was 35.69± 10.65 years. In 42.70% of cases, patients had no professional activity. Prevalence of tuberculosis in hospital was 10.99%. On average, 12 cases of TB were recorded each month. Most common clinical signs included: chronic cough (71.81%), fever (96.82%), alteration of the general state (91.36%) and pulmonary condensation syndrome (63.64%). The diseases most commonly associated with tuberculosis were HIV/AIDS (73.36%), malaria (48.63%) and anemia (31.81%). The mean time between symptom onset and diagnosis was 37.65 days. Mortality rate was 18.63%. TB/HIV co-infection and neuromeningeal TB were associated with a high mortality rate (p < 0.05). Tuberculosis is a common disease in Bangui and it is often associated with HIV infection. Prognosis is poor in the case of neuromeningeal involvement. Prevention and routine monitoring in HIV infected patients may contribute to reduce the extent and severity of TB., Competing Interests: Les auteurs ne déclarent aucun conflit d'intérêts.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still a major killing malignancy in sub-Saharan Africa. Lifelong intoxication with aflatoxin B1 is considered as one of the primary causes of this situation. The role of aflatoxin in HCC from a given population is commonly estimated through the prevalence of R249S mutation of TP53, a hallmark for previous exposure to the mycotoxin. However, the role of AFB1 is barely known in large part of Africa. We conducted a survey on circulating cell-free DNA from 149 patients with HCC and 213 control subjects with and without liver diseases from Cameroon and Central African Republic using droplet digital PCR technique. We observed a mutation prevalence of 24.8% (n = 37/149) in patients with tumor and 5.6% (n = 12/213) in controls (P = 2.2E-07). Patients with mutations usually displayed significantly increased circulating alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) values, high hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA loads as well as worsened values of blood cells count. Interestingly, the fraction of droplets positive for R249S was significantly larger in patients with liver cancer (15.3 ± 3.7%) than in controls (0.5 ± 0.3%, P = 7.1E-04). Our survey indicates that AFB1 is instrumental for HCC development in Middle Africa and that droplet digital PCR might be used in the region both to diagnose HCC and to conduct public health surveys on populations at risk of chronic aflatoxin intoxication.

Background: High-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV) infection remains a great concern in relation to African men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those infected with HIV. The prevalence of HR-HPV and associated risk factors was estimated in a cross-sectional observational study covering MSM living in Bangui, Central African Republic., Methods: MSM receiving care at the Centre National de Référence des Infections Sexuellement Transmissibles et de la Thérapie Antirétrovirale, Bangui, were included. HIV serostatus and socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics were collected. HPV DNA was detected and genotyped on anal swabs using Anyplex™ II HPV28 test (Seegene, South Korea), and HSV DNA by in-house real-time PCR. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine risk factors associated with HPV outcomes., Results: 42 MSM (mean age, 23.2 years; range, 14-39) including 69.1% HIV-1-positive and 30.9% HIV-negative were prospectively enrolled. The prevalence of anal HPV was 69.1%, including 82.7% of HR-HPV which were multiple in 52.0%. The most prevalent genotypes were HPV-35, HPV-58, HPV-59 and HPV-31. While, HPV-16 and HPV-18 were present in a minority of samples. Multiple HR-HPV infection was more frequent in HIV-positive MSM (41.4%) with 2.7 genotypes per anal samples than in HIV-negative (7.7%) with 1.5 genotypes per anal samples. HPV types included in the prophylactic Gardasil-9® vaccine were detected in 68.9% of specimens and HPV-58 was the most frequently detected. MSM infected by HPV-16 and HPV-18 were all infected by HIV-1. Few anal swabs (11.9%) contained HSV-2 DNA without relationship with HPV detection. Condomless receptive anal intercourse was the main risk factor to being infected with any type of HPV and condomless insertive anal intercourse was significantly less associated with HPV contamination than receptive anal intercourse (Odd ratio = 0.02)., Conclusion: MSM in Bangui are at-risk of HIV and HR-HPV anal infections. The unusual distribution of HPV-35 as predominant HPV suggests possible geographic specificities in the molecular epidemiology of HR-HPV in sub-Saharan Africa. Scaling up prevention strategies against HPV infection and related cancers adapted for MSM in Africa should be prioritized. Innovative interventions should be conceived for the MSM population living in Bangui., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction: HIV in sub-Saharan Africa remains a great concern in men who have sex with men (MSM). Intervention on MSM is a key strategy to control the burden of HIV among this population. Herein we assessed the effect of 2 years of HIV testing and counseling on risk-tacking and HIV and STI incidences among MSM living in Bangui in the Central African Republic., Methods: The incidences of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and the sexual behavior characteristics were assessed at inclusion and after 2 years of follow up in the prospective MSM cohort., Results: 99 MSM were included and followed up during 2 years. The mean age of study MSM was 24 years (range, 14-39); among those, the majority was single (84.8%) and unemployed (33.3%) or students (23.9%). The majority (up to 80%) were living in only 4 (out of 10) neighboring district of Bangui. Insertive anal intercourse showed significant decrease from 54% at inclusion to 46% after 2 years of follow up (P < 0.001). In contrast, we observed slight increase in receptive anal intercourse (60% versus 66%) and oral sex (70% versus 74%), but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Finally, the prevalences of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B increased significantly from 29% to 41%, 12% to 21% and 14% to 23%, respectively., Conclusion: These observations indicate that medical care and counseling on MSM does not provide significant changes in risk-taking, whereas the incidences of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B remained high. Innovative interventions should be conceived for the MSM population living in Bangui., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.