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Background In Africa, especially in West Africa, studies about the prevalence and diversity of respiratory viruses (influenza and others) in elderly people are largely lacking. In studies done elsewhere, it is well established that older people, when compared with younger adults, are at greater risk of significant morbidity and mortality from complications arising from influenza. The main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and the diversity of respiratory viruses associated with ILI cases in adults over 50 years old in Senegal. Methods The recruitment period of this study was from January 2009 to December 2011. 232 patients aged 50 years and above presenting ILI cases were enrolled. Nasal-pharyngeal and/or oral pharyngeal swabs were collected from patients. RNA was extracted from 200 μl of each sample followed by a two-step real-time RT-PCR. The Anyplex™ II RV16 Detection kit was used for viral detection. The kit enabled the simultaneous detection of the presence of 16 respiratory viruses. Results 150 viruses were detected: influenza viruses (44.7%) and rhinoviruses (26.7%) were the most prevalent. We detected 13 human parainfluenza viruses (8.7%), 7 human respiratory syncytial viruses (4.7%), 6 coronaviruses (4%), 5 human metapneumoviruses (3.3%), 5 human adenoviruses (3.3%) and 1 human bocavirus (0.7%). 14 cases (6%) of dual virus infections and one triple viral detection case were encountered. 56 (56.6%) viruses detected were found in the 50-64 year old age group, 59 (76.6%; P < 0.001) from 65-74 year old age group and 35 (62.5%) were detected in the ⩾75 year old age group. The viral co-infections were more frequent in the 65-74 age group (9/15). Conclusions This pilot study demonstrates a variety of respiratory viruses in the elderly. It also highlights a high prevalence of these viruses in this age group. We speculate from these results that the impact of respiratory viruses other than influenza on the elderly has been considerably underestimated. A more exhaustive study seems necessary in order to provide a more complete picture of the burden of respiratory viruses on morbidity among adults over 50 years old in the sub-Saharan context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies on human genetic factors associated with malaria have hitherto concentrated on their role in susceptibility to and protection from disease. In contrast, virtually no attention has been paid to the role of human genetics in eliciting the production of parasite transmission stages, the gametocytes, and thus enhancing the spread of disease. Methods and Findings: We analysed four longitudinal family-based cohort studies from Senegal and Thailand followed for 2-8 years and evaluated the relative impact of the human genetic and non-genetic factors on gametocyte production in infections of Plasmodium falciparum or P. vivax. Prevalence and density of gametocyte carriage were evaluated in asymptomatic and symptomatic infections by examination of Giemsa-stained blood smears and/or RT-PCR (for falciparum in one site). A significant human genetic contribution was found to be associated with gametocyte prevalence in asymptomatic P. falciparum infections. By contrast, there was no heritability associated with the production of gametocytes for P. falciparum or P. vivax symptomatic infections. Sickle cell mutation, HbS, was associated with increased gametocyte prevalence but its contribution was small. Conclusions: The existence of a significant human genetic contribution to gametocyte prevalence in asymptomatic infections suggests that candidate gene and genome wide association approaches may be usefully applied to explore the underlying human genetics. Prospective epidemiological studies will provide an opportunity to generate novel and perhaps more epidemiologically pertinent gametocyte data with which similar analyses can be performed and the role of human genetics in parasite transmission ascertained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of today, little data is available on COVID-19 in African countries, where the case management relied mainly on a treatment by association between hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin (AZM). This study aimed to understand the main clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Senegal from March to October 20202. We described the clinical characteristics of patients and analysed clinical status (alive and discharged versus hospitalized or died) at 15 days after Isolation and Treatment Centres (ITC) admission among adult patients who received HCQ plus AZM and those who did not receive this combination. A total of 926 patients were included in this analysis. Six hundred seventy-four (674) (72.8%) patients received a combination of HCQ and AZM. Results showed that the proportion of patient discharge at D15 was significantly higher for patients receiving HCQ plus AZM (OR: 1.63, IC 95% (1.09–2.43)). Factors associated with a lower proportion of patients discharged alive were: age ≥ 60 years (OR: 0.55, IC 95% (0.36–0.83)), having of at least one pre-existing disorder (OR: 0.61, IC 95% (0.42–0.90)), and a high clinical risk at admission following NEWS score (OR: 0.49, IC 95% (0.28–0.83)). Few side effects were reported including 2 cases of cardiac rhythmic disorders in the HCQ and AZM group versus 13 in without HCQ + AZM. An improvement of clinical status at 15 days was found for patients exposed to HCQ plus AZM combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]