The first epidemiological and virological influenza surveillance in the Republic of Guinea revealed the predominance of influenza A/H3N2 and B Victoria viruses.

Little is known about respiratory viruses infection in Guinea. Influenza surveillance has not been implemented in Guinea mainly because of the paucity of laboratory infrastructure and capacity. This paper presents the first influenza surveillance data in Guinea.

HIV type 1 drug resistance in adults receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

As antiretroviral therapy continues to scale-up in developing countries, there is concern that high levels of HIV drug resistance to antiretroviral drugs will occur. Here we describe rates of emergence of HIV-1 drug resistance and factors associated with their occurrence among adults who received antiretroviral therapy (ART) for >1 year through the Côte d'Ivoire national drug access program from 1998 to 2003. To detect genotypic drug resistance, we sequenced all 1- and 2-year specimens with detectable HIV RNA viral load.

Changes in HIV RNA viral load, CD4+ T-cell counts, and levels of immune activation markers associated with anti-tuberculosis therapy and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis among HIV-infected tuberculosis patients in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

We analyzed changes in plasma human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 viral load, CD4+ T-cell count, and markers of immune activation markers at start of treatment of tuberculosis and 12 months after among 44 HIV-1-infected patients with newly diagnosed, sputum-smear positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis pulmonary infection. All patients received a standard regimen of 6 months of rifampicin and isoniazid with first 2 months of pyrazinamid with or without cotrimoxazole. Compared with values at start of treatment, median viral load increased by a median of 0.

Differences in HIV-2 plasma viral load and immune activation in HIV-1 and HIV-2 dually infected persons and those infected with HIV-2 only in Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire.

Objective: To determine whether blood plasma levels of HIV-2 RNA viral loads and immune activation markers differ between persons infected with HIV-2 only and those dually infected with HIV-1 and HIV-2.

Methods: Between September 1996 and February 2000, we collected, analyzed and compared levels of HIV-2 RNA in plasma and immune activation markers among 52 persons infected with HIV-2 alone and 75 with confirmed dual infection. We also compared viral load and immune activation in patients who were infected with HIV-1 only and those who were dually infected.

Prevalence of genotypic and phenotypic HIV-1 drug-resistant strains among patients who have rebound in viral load while receiving antiretroviral therapy in the UNAIDS-Drug Access Initiative in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of genotypic and phenotypic antiretroviral (ARV) drug-resistant HIV-1 strains among patients with viral load rebound while receiving ARV therapy in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Methods: Between August 1998 and April 2000, we selected all patients (n = 241) who had received ARV drug therapy for at least 6 months in the UNAIDS-Drug Access Initiative (DAI), in Abidjan. We analyzed for genotypic and phenotypic drug resistance among 97 (40%) of the 241 patients who had a rebound in plasma viral load, defined as an initial decrease of > 0.

Field evaluation of the gag-based heteroduplex mobility assay for genetic subtyping of circulating recombinant forms of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

The gag-based heteroduplex mobility assay (gag-HMA) was evaluated for its ease and reliability in subtyping circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in Côte d'Ivoire. One hundred thirty-two plasma samples were analyzed blindly for HIV-1 subtypes by sequencing the pol gene and by gag-HMA. DNA sequencing was used as the "gold standard.