Publications by authors named "Alhaji Olono"
The ongoing outbreak of Marburg virus disease in Rwanda marks the third largest historically, although it has shown the lowest fatality rate. Genomic analysis of samples from 18 cases identified a lineage with limited internal diversity, closely related to a 2014 Ugandan case. Our findings suggest that the Rwandan lineage diverged decades ago from a common ancestor shared with diversity sampled from bats in Uganda.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe African continent is poised to have a pivotal role in the global population landscape, with the United Nations projecting a population of 2.5 billion (more than 25% of the global population) by 2050. Amid this demographic shift, Africa faces a unique healthcare challenge-navigating a complex landscape of infectious and non-communicable diseases.
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- Nigeria reported its first mpox cases in nearly 40 years five years before the 2022-2023 outbreak, with ongoing human-to-human transmission driving the epidemic.
- Researchers analyzed 112 mpox virus genomes from Nigeria (2021-2023) and traced the lineage back to its emergence around July 2014 from southern Nigeria, specifically Rivers State.
- The study also found that human-to-human transmission significantly increased the virus's evolutionary rate and emphasized the importance of better pathogen surveillance and response strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Nigeria and Cameroon reported their first mpox cases in over 30 years starting in 2017 and 2018, with Nigeria's outbreak recognized as a human epidemic.
- The study focused on understanding the zoonotic transmission dynamics of the mpox virus across the Nigeria-Cameroon border, revealing ongoing cases driven by a new Clade IIb.1 lineage and highlighting significant cross-border viral spread.
- The findings indicate that southern Nigeria is likely the origin of the mpox epidemic, with evidence of a zoonotic precursor lineage present in local animal populations for over 45 years, emphasizing the persistent risk of MPXV emergence in both countries.
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) outbreak in domestic rabbits in Ibadan, Nigeria, and involves the first genomic analysis of the lagovirus GI.2 strain in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Researchers used Next Generation Sequencing (mNGS) to analyze liver, spleen, and lung samples from infected rabbits, discovering one complete and two partial genomes of RHDV2, closely related to strains from Europe.
- The results emphasize the importance of genomic surveillance for RHDV2 to track its origins and inform health policies in Nigeria and the surrounding region.