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The nephroblastoma is the third pediatric cancer in Mali, this study aimed to describe the prevalence and prognosis of nephroblastoma relapses. Methods: It was a descriptive retrospective study over a 10-year period from January 2005 to March 2015. We collected children aged 0 to 15 years followed for relapse of nephroblastoma in the pediatric oncology unit of university hospital center (UHC) Gabriel Toure. Results: The frequency of relapse of nephroblastoma was 7.4% (19 cases) whose mean age was 42 months with a sex ratio of 1.3. The relapse occurred before the end of the postoperative course in 16% of cases (3 patients). It was local recurrence in 52% of cases (10 patients), pulmonary 16% (3 patients), and hepatic 11% (2 patients). According to the SIOP classification, 47% of patients were diagnosed in stage III (9 patients) and 21% (4 patients) in stage IV. The tumor was high risk in 37%. Palliative chemotherapy was performed in 63% of the patients (12 patients) and the remaining seven were put on a high risk diet. The overall survival at 5 years was 21% or 4 patients. Conclusion: Our results showed all the difficulties in the management of nephroblastoma relapses in our context.

Frequency of urologic lesions was evaluated in 408 children from 6-15 years old in a suburban area of Bamako district in Mali, Missabougou; 65.2% from children were infected by Schistosoma haematobium, 13% by Schistosoma mansoni and 0.2% by Schistosoma intercalatum. Urologic lesions have been demonstrated in 223 cases among which 66 cases of urinary bladder lesions, 108 cases of hydronephrosis and 49 cases of mixed lesions. In order of the frequency we had the following uropathic lesions: wall thickening, wall irregularities, localised hypertrophies and hydronephrosis. We did not found any lesions in 185 children. Infection due to S. haematobium did not varied significantly in spite of age group, sex, schooling of children or the profession of the parents. Lesions were strongly correlated with age group (47.8 and 61.3% in 6-9 and 10-15 years old respectively) (p0.01) and with intensity of infection as measured by urinary egg counts (p = 0.0017).

Monoclonal antibodies (mab) specific for hog cholera virus (HCV), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) or pestivirus were applied for the differential diagnosis of pestivirus infections in pigs. Field virus isolated from 8 confirmed classical swine fever outbreaks and one suspect case was propagated in PK(15) cell cultures and identified by direct immunofluorescence (IFA) and peroxidase linked antibody (PLA) assays. Peroxidase-linked HCV, BVDV and pestivirus specific mab were applied in direct PLA for differentiation. Nine isolates were classified as members of the genus pestivirus. Eight isolates showed a positive reaction with an HCV mab. One isolates reacted with BVDV specific mab only. For further characterization an indirect PLA was performed using a collection of different HCV and BVDV specific mabs. Some of the HCV isolates also showed a weak reaction with BVDV specific mab.

We studied from January to December 1988 the part played by malaria in the etiology of febrile diseases observed in three community clinics of Ouagadougou city (Burkina Faso, West Africa). The diagnosis of malaria attacks was based on the association of a body temperature equal or above 38 degrees C and a parasite density equal or above 10,000 parasitized red blood cells per mm3. We observed that fever attacks were primarily caused by malaria. Among the 5-14 years age group, malaria attacks were responsible for more than 50% of febrile cases and occurred mainly during the rainy season and at the beginning of the dry season (July to October). Ear, nose, throat and lung infections were the other dominant causes of fever attacks and were found during the whole year but especially during the dry season (February, March, September). They were followed by urinary and gastrointestinal infections and other tropical febrile diseases. Clinical diagnosis only of malaria attacks and even more so of fever attacks is poorly reliable.