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Introduction: Kaposi's sarcoma is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and remains to this day the most common cancer in people living with HIV. This study aimed to obtain epidemiological data on Kaposi's sarcoma diagnosed at the cytopathological anatomy laboratory in the Republic of Congo. Material and Methods: Authors collected all cases of Kaposi's Sarcoma over a 22 years period from 2000 to 2021. Data was collected from hospital registers, medical records and reports of pathological examination results. Results: A total of 37 cases were enrolled in the study, with the annually incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma around 2 cases/year. The age of patients at diagnosis ranged from 13 to 80 years old, with the average age of 31.5 years. Male to female ratio was 3.1 and females were older than males. The majority of the lesions were in the lower limbs, 13 (35%) and nodular KS accounted the most observed elementary lesions of all cases (59%). Conclusion: Although it occurs frequently in PLHIV, KS is less common in the Republic of Congo and remains an unrecognized condition among the Congolese population. Key words: Kaposi's sarcoma, Epidemiology, Republic of Congo

Introduction: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with a variety of morphological, molecular, treatment response and clinical outcome characteristics. The objective of this work was to assess the epidemiological, histological, immunohistochemical and molecular subtypes of breast cancer in women in the Republic of Congo. Material and Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study which took place from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2020. The study focused on 150 cases of breast cancer in patients diagnosed at the University Hospital of Brazzaville (CHU-B). The epidemiological, clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and molecular subtypes were the variables studied. Results: The mean age was 48.09 ± 13.87 years with the extremes of 22 years and 80 years. The study of the profession; the most represented in our study was that of the cultivator 20.67%. A predominance of breast cancer localization was observed in the left breast in 47.33%. The frequency of a family history was 7.33% or 11 cases. The most frequently represented histologic type was 62% invasive non-specific type carcinoma (CITNS). The most represented histological grade was Scarff Bloom Richardson grade II (51.33%), followed by grade III 24% and grade I in 12% of cases. Regarding the results of IHC; of the 150 cases, 102 (68%) had positive hormone receptors (HR +). The ORs were positive in 102 cases (68%) while the PRs were positive in 98 cases (65.33%). The Her2 oncogene was over expressed in 38 cases (25.3%). The Ki-67 proliferation index was known for the 150 cases, including 77 (51.33%) less than 15% and 73 (48.67%) greater than or equal to 15%. The distribution of molecular subtypes was 46% luminal A, 22% triple negative, 17% luminal B and 10% Her2 +. Tumors of unknown molecular profile were 5%. The correlation was found between molecular subtype and histological type. This result was statistically significant (p 0.05). The correlation was found between molecular subtype and histological type. This result was statistically significant (p 0.05). The correlation was found between molecular subtype and histological type. This result was statistically significant (p 0.05). Conclusion: It should be noted that the association between histological and immunohistochemical diagnosis can help determine the phenotype of breast cancer, with the aim of guiding treatment and therefore improving response to treatment. Key words: Epidemiology, Histology, Immunohistochemistry, molecular subtypes, breast cancer, Republic of Congo.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is endemic but with disparities between regions and population studied. Although the virus remains mostly latent, there is some evidence that blood transfusion may represents one of the transmission way for this virus. Here, we evaluated HHV-8 seroprevalence among blood donors in Mali. This cross-sectional study recruited blood donors from the Blood Transfusion Center at Gabriel Touré Hospital, Bamako. Serum was used for the detection of latent HHV-8 immunoglobulin G directed against latent associated nuclear antigen 1 by an indirect immunofluorescence assay. Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), HCV, and Treponema pallidum were also screened. HHV-8 seroprevalence was 10.4% in Malian blood donors. None of the sociodemographic characteristics were associated with HHV-8 infection, although there is a tendency of a higher HHV-8 seroprevalence among participants living in Bamako than those not living there. One individual had coinfection HHV-8/HBV, another HHV-8/HCV while another had HCV and T. pallidum. None has been tested positive for HIV infection. This intermediate seroprevalence in Malian blood donors suggests that the risk of HHV-8 transmission by transfusion should be considered. Further investigations are needed to assess impact of HHV-8 in polytransfused patients residing in an endemic area for this virus.

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) is endemic in Africa, although studies of this infection are rare in Congo. We evaluated seroprevalence and HHV-8 diversity among people living with HIV. We included 353 patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy. Antibodies against HHV-8 latency-associated nuclear antigen were detected by indirect immunofluorescence. In HHV-8 positive patients, we performed HHV-8 quantification in blood and saliva by real-time PCR and typing by Sanger sequencing of K1 open reading frame. HHV-8 seroprevalence was 19%, being male (odd ratio [OR] = 1.741, [95% Confidence interval {CI}, 0.97–3.07]; p = 0.0581) and having multiple sex partners before HIV diagnosis (OR = 1.682, [CI 95%, 0.97–2.92]; p = 0.0629) tended to be associated with HHV-8 seropositivity. Of the 64 HHV-8 seropositive patients, HHV-8 DNA was detected in 10 (16%) in saliva, 6 (9%) in whole-blood and in 2 (3%) in both whole-blood and saliva. Three out of 6 HHV-8 strains were subtypes A5, 2 subtype B1 and 1 subtype C. HHV-8 seroprevalence was relatively low with more frequent carriage in men, associated with asymptomatic oral excretion and a predominance of subtype A5. These data tend to support the hypothesis of horizontal transmission in people living with HIV in Brazzaville.