Chronic leg ulcers in hospitalized patients in Lomé, Togo: 125 cases.

The aim of this study was to document the profile and causes of chronic leg ulcers (CLU) in patients hospitalized in Lomé, Togo. This retrospective study reviewed records from the dermatology departments (CHU Sylvanus Olympio and Campus, and the dermatology center of Gbossimé) from 2000 to 2017 and from the general surgery department of CHU Sylvanus Olympio from 2013 to 2017 to identify cases. In all, 125 cases of CLU were identified during the study period.

A multi-state spatio-temporal Markov model for categorized incidence of meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa.

Meningococcal meningitis is a major public health problem in the African Belt. Despite the obvious seasonality of epidemics, the factors driving them are still poorly understood. Here, we provide a first attempt to predict epidemics at the spatio-temporal scale required for in-year response, using a purely empirical approach.

A Bayesian network approach to the study of historical epidemiological databases: modelling meningitis outbreaks in the Niger.

Objective: To develop a tool for evaluating the risk that an outbreak of meningitis will occur in a particular district of the Niger after outbreaks have been reported in other, specified districts of the country.

Methods: A Bayesian network was represented by a graph composed of 38 nodes (one for each district in the Niger) connected by arrows. In the graph, each node directly influenced each of the "child" nodes that lay at the ends of the arrows arising from that node, according to conditional probabilities.

Emergence of complex and diverse CRF02-AG/CRF06-cpx recombinant HIV type 1 strains in Niger, West Africa.

On the basis of partial env and gag subtyping, we documented that the majority of HIV-1 strains circulating in Niger were CRF02-AG (54.3%) or CRF06-cpx (18.1%) and that 9% of the samples were possible recombinants between CRF02 and CRF06.

Meningitis outbreaks and vaccination strategy.

Three outbreaks of meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (subgroup III) are described: Niger (1991), Burundi (1992), and Guinea (1993). These outbreaks showed unusual characteristics: a shorter inter-epidemic interval (Niger), unusual geographical location outside the meningitis belt (Burundi and Guinea), and high age-specific attack rates in all age groups (Burundi and Guinea). Mass immunization campaigns mobilized considerable human and financial means (US $322,000 and 3000 person-days of work for health personnel to immunize 629,000 people in Guinea).