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Background: Scabies, a parasitic infection caused by Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, is a public health problem with significant morbidity worldwide, particularly in low-resource countries. Impetigo, a complication of scabies infection, is a risk factor for sepsis, glomerulonephritis and possibly acute rheumatic fever. Currently, the majority of epidemiological data has been collected in rural populations in the Pacific with limited applicability to urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa, where scabies is also believed to be a problem. To inform future public health programs, more reliable information about the burden of disease is required., Methodology/principal Findings: In July/August 2022, we conducted a cross sectional, cluster-randomised, household survey in Pikine/Dakar using the 'International Association for the Control of Scabies (IACS)' criteria to diagnose scabies and impetigo. All participants underwent a standardised clinical examination by post-graduate dermatology students. For those diagnosed with scabies, an age-adapted 'Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI)' questionnaire was filled. We recruited and examined 1697 participants to detect 27 cases of scabies (prevalence: 1.6%, 95% CI 0.8-3.2), mostly in school aged children. Ten participants suffered from impetigo (prevalence: 0.6%, 95% CI 0.3-1.3), 5 of which were dually infected with scabies. Risk factors for scabies infection were young age, male gender and Koranic school attendance. Of those found to have scabies, in 7 out of 22 cases (31.8%) it had a large effect on their lives according to the DLQI questionnaires filled., Conclusions/significance: This study adds to the mapping of the burden of scabies across Africa to support public health action. With a low prevalence of scabies that is concentrated amongst poor households and children attending Koranic schools, a focused public health approach targeting Koranic schools and poor households seems to be most appropriate in this community., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Hansmann 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.)

Community-based surveillance can be an important component of early warning systems. In 2016, the Côte d'Ivoire Ministry of Health launched a community-based surveillance project in 3 districts along the Guinea border. Community health workers were trained in detection and immediate reporting of diseases and events using a text-messaging platform. In December 2017, surveillance data from before and after implementation of community-based surveillance were analyzed in intervention and control districts. A total of 3,734 signals of priority diseases and 4,918 unusual health events were reported, of which 420 were investigated as suspect diseases and none were investigated as unusual health events. Of the 420 suspected cases reported, 23 (6%) were laboratory confirmed for a specific pathogen. Following implementation of community-based surveillance, 5-fold and 8-fold increases in reporting of suspected measles and yellow fever clusters, respectively, were documented. Reporting incidence rates in intervention districts for suspected measles, yellow fever, and acute flaccid paralysis were significantly higher after implementation, with a difference of 29.2, 19.0, and 2.5 cases per 100,000 person-years, respectively. All rate differences were significantly higher in intervention districts ( p  < 0.05); no significant increase in reporting was noted in control districts. These findings suggest that community-based surveillance strengthened detection and reporting capacity for several suspect priority diseases and events. However, the surveillance program was very sensitive, resulting in numerous false-positives. Learning from the community-based surveillance implementation experience, the ministry of health is revising signal definitions to reduce sensitivity and increase specificity, reviewing training materials, considering scaling up sustainable reporting platforms, and standardizing community health worker roles.

Among children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), respiratory diseases are a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality. This review describes respiratory manifestations of paediatric HIV infection before and after the beginning of HAART in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. In an observational cohort, HIV infected children had quarterly clinical visits and a day-clinic available all week for ill children. CD4 and viral load were measured at baseline and every 6 months thereafter. All children with a CD4 percentage below 25% were prescribed daily cotrimoxazole prophylaxis. Ninety-eight children (of a total of 282) were recruited before HAART and treated during the follow-up, there were 56 boys and 42 girls, with a mean age of 6.2 years at inclusion. The mean percentage of CD4 before HAART was 8.7%. Twelve children had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and five were on antituberculosis treatment at inclusion. Fifty-one per cent presented with abnormalities on chest X-ray at inclusion. Before initiation of HAART, respiratory manifestations represented 32.4% of morbidity events and the incidence for 100 child/months was 9.29 for URTI, 15.2 for bronchitis, 6.07 for LRTI, 0.71 for tuberculosis and 0.36 for Pneumocystis carinii. After the initiation of HAART, respiratory manifestations represented 40.9% of all morbidity events and the incidence for 100 child/months was 5.35 for URTI, 9.48 for bronchitis, 2.17 for LRTI and 0.16 for tuberculosis. During HAART treatment, the incidence of respiratory infections decreased dramatically compared to before the antiretroviral treatment. However, respiratory events still represented 40% of all events occurring following the start of HAART therapy.

To determine the prevalence of méticillino-résistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among health care personnel in Abidjan teaching hospitals as well as their resistance profile against other antibiotics, 592 health care personnel from various surgical and medical services: the intensive care unit, gynaecology and obstetrics and third-degree burns services of the Cocody, Treichville and Yopougon Teaching Hospitals were included. The previous nasal pits of each subject included were swabbed. The isolation of S. aureus strains was run in a Chapman medium followed by Identification based on morphological and biochemical characteristics. The resistance profile of the strains to antibiotics was determined by standard Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and a 1 microg disc of oxacillin was used for the detection of meticillin-resistance S. aureus strains according to NCCLS (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards) guidelines. 269 members of the studied personnel were carriers of S. aureus, either a rate of portage of 45.4%. Among the 269 S. aureus isolates, 38.7% were MRSA strains and the carriage rate of MRSA in the population was 17.8%. The health care personnel working in surgery was the more colonized (36.7%) follow-up of those of the medical services (31.4%) and of the the intensive care unit (12.4%). A variable proportion of strains of MRSA also expressed resistances to the other families of antibiotics: 27% to aminosids of which 13.5% of phénotype kanamycine, tobramycine, gentamycine (KTG), 58.7% to macrolids and related (MLS), 37.5% to fluoroquinolons, 14.4% to cyclines and 40% to the cotrimoxazole. This confirms their multi-resistant character. The prevalence of MRSA carriage among health care personnel is high; this personnel constitutes an infectious risk for the hospitalized patients who are so exposed to nosocomial infections caused by MRSA.

In a study carried out in Gabon, antibodies against the treponema were looked for in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 13 children with active congenital syphilis (presence of specific IgM antibodies) and in 7 children with positive serologic reactions reflecting transplacental passage of maternal antibodies. Serologic reactions used included the VDRL test, the TPHA test, and the FTA-ABS IgG and IgM tests. Among the 13 children with syphilis, 7 had a positive FTA-ABS IgG test in the CSF; positivity of this test was not correlated with severity of clinical features, CSF protein levels or CSF cytologic findings. The TPHA test was positive in only four children and the VDRL test was consistently negative. These findings are similar to those reported in another group of patients with meningeal involvement proven by the demonstration of IgM in the CSF using recent techniques. Passage of antibodies into the CSF is possible (1 case in this study) but for safety patients with specific IgG in the CSF should be given penicillin in a dosage that provides treponema-killing levels in situ (100,000 U/kg/d). Use of this dosage is recommended whenever sensitive techniques for CSF analysis are not available.

Twenty-five African children from Libreville had concomitant typhoid or paratyphoid fever (Salmonella typhi, 4 children; Salmonella paratyphi A, 1; S. paratyphi B, 5; S. paratyphi C, 15) and Schistosoma intercalatum infection. In 19 children treated for both infections, no relapse occurred. In the six others, antibiotics alone were given and the Salmonella infection relapsed after 1 month. No relapse occurred after a second course of antibiotics together with treatment for the S. intercalatum infection. This observation suggests that S. intercalatum prolongs Salmonella infection, as do other species of schistosomes. The concomitant treatment of both infections is recommended.

Close interactions between salmonellae and Schistosoma intercalatum were demonstrated by a study of 118 children conducted at Libreville, Gabon. Bilharziasis, confirmed by rectal biopsy, was present in 76% of children hospitalized for typhoid-like salmonella septicaemia, as against 38% of controls of the same age living in the same district (P less than 0.001). Although the clinical symptoms were typical of typhoid fever, with stupor, myocarditis or leucopenia depending on the cases, the germs responsible in 26 out of 42 cases were salmonella species regarded as minor. Finally, the salmonella infection was clinically prolonged by bilharziasis in 1 out of 3 patients. It would therefore appear that salmonella adheres to the wall of S. intercalatum as to that of other schistosoma species, and that both infections must be treated concomitantly.