Publications by authors named "Emmanuel Kabalisa"
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 East African Community (EAC) is experiencing an unprecedented, emerging mpox outbreak since July 2024 in five of eight partner states. We highlight rapid regional response measures, initiated August 2024 coordinated by EAC: field deployment of six mobile laboratories in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan to high-risk areas, donation of one mobile laboratory to Democratic Republic of the Congo and genomic monkeypox virus (MPXV) surveillance support. These interventions aim to limit local mpox spread and support international containment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The East African Community (EAC) faces significant challenges in addressing infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), highlighting an urgent need for improved pathogen genomics capabilities across its member states.
- A study showed stark differences in how EAC countries utilize bacterial pathogen sequencing; nearly all quality genome data (97%) was processed by external organizations, primarily outside of Africa, with Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda leading in local sequencing efforts.
- Key obstacles include a lack of local sequencing facilities, limited bioinformatics skills, insufficient computing resources, and weak data-sharing practices, all of which hinder the region's public health laboratories from effectively using pathogen genomics for AMR surveillance and outbreak response.
The clinical performance of two rapid antigen tests for the diagnosis of Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were regionally evaluated in East African populations. Swabs were collected from 1,432 individuals from five Partner States of the East African Community (Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan). The two rapid antigen tests (Bionote NowCheck COVID-19 Ag and SD Biosensor STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag) were evaluated against the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA by the Reverse Transcription PCR (RT-PCR) gold standard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF