Genetic diversity of HPV35 in Chad and the Central African Republic, two landlocked countries of Central Africa: A cross-sectional study.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-35 accounts for up 10% of cervical cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa. We herein assessed the genetic diversity of HPV35 in HIV-negative women from Chad (identified as #CHAD) and HIV-infected men having sex with men (MSM) in the Central African Republic (CAR), identified as #CAR. Ten HPV35 DNA from self-collected genital secretions (n = 5) and anal margin samples (n = 5) obtained from women and MSM, respectively, were sequenced using the ABI PRISM® BigDye Sequencing technology.

Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies before and after implementation of anti-COVID-19 vaccination among hospital staff in Bangui, Central African Republic.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high to very high risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The persistence of this pandemic worldwide has instigated the need for an investigation of the level of prevention through immunization and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 among HCWs. The objective of our study was to evaluate any changes in anti-COVID-19 serological status before and after the vaccination campaign of health personnel in the Central African Republic.

Effectiveness of Xpert MTB/RIF and the Line Probe Assay tests for the rapid detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the Central African Republic.

The Xpert MTB/RIF and Line Probe Assay (LPA) tests are more and more frequently used in mycobacteria testing laboratories for the rapid diagnosis of multi-drug resistance (MDR-TB). In this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of these tests in the Central African Republic. Rifampicin resistance cases detected by the Xpert MTB/RIF during the year 2020 are also underwent first- and second-line LPA, and a first-line of drug susceptibility testing (DST) on solid medium and we compared these results.

Diagnostic performances of Exacto® Triplex rapid test for diagnosis of HIV/HCV/HBsAg: a multicenter, cross-sectional, field study in the Central African Republic.

Introduction: the Exacto® Triplex HIV/HCV/HBsAg (Biosynex, Strasbourg, France) consists in lateral flow, immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic test simultaneously detecting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and HIV-2 and hepatitis C virus (HCV)- specific antibodies (IgG and IgM) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) in serum, plasma and whole blood. We herein evaluated its diagnostic performances in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Methods: cross-sectional study was conducted on prospectively collected panel of 550 sera from adult inpatients living in Bangui, including 200 HIV-positive, 100 HBsAg-positive, 50 HCV-positive, 200 negatives to three viruses according to reference immuno-enzymatic serological tests including Murex HCV (Diasorin, Saluggia, Italy) for HCV, Murex HBsAg (Diasorin) for HBV, Genscreen ULTRA HIV Ag-Ab HIV-1/2 Version 2 (Bio-Rad, Marnes-la-Coquette, France) and Murex HIV 1.

Analytical performances of Exacto HIV self-test in the Central African Republic.

We herein evaluated the analytical performances of the CE-IVD capillary blood Exacto HIV self-test (Biosynex, Strasbourg, France) in the Central African Republic (CAR). A cross-sectional study was conducted on a representative national panel of 200 sera positive for HIV and 200 negative for HIV, randomly selected thorough the CAR for HIV seroprevalence surveillance survey, according to reference test. The Exacto HIV self-test showed 99.