Correction: Development and evaluation of PlasmoPod: A cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test for rapid malaria diagnosis and surveillance.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.

Development and evaluation of PlasmoPod: A cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test for rapid malaria diagnosis and surveillance.

Malaria surveillance is hampered by the widespread use of diagnostic tests with low sensitivity. Adequate molecular malaria diagnostics are often only available in centralized laboratories. PlasmoPod is a novel cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test for rapid, sensitive, and quantitative detection of malaria parasites.

[Latent tuberculosis infection in children in Bangui: about 524 cases exposed at home to index cases of positive microscopy pulmonary tuberculosis].

Introduction: in endemic areas, despite BCG vaccination, the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) in young children is high after exposure to adults with tuberculosis. The purpose of this study is to reduce the risk of active tuberculosis in children experiencing household exposure to adult index cases.

Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional multi-site study (April 2016- January 2019) of children aged 0 to 59 months experiencing household exposure to index cases.

Epidemiology and genetic characterization of respiratory syncytial virus in children with acute respiratory infections: Findings from the influenza sentinel surveillance network in Central African Republic, 2015 to 2018.

Background And Aims: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the main viral pathogens causing acute respiratory infections in children under 5 years of age but has seldom been studied in Central African Republic (CAF). Taking advantage of the national influenza surveillance network in CAF, this study aimed at providing the first insights into RSV prevalence and seasonality over 4 years of surveillance and the clinical manifestations of RSV in this population in CAF.

Methods: A total of 3903 children under 5 years matching the influenza-like illness (ILI, 68.

Purifying Selection in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Gene in Perinatally Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1-Infected Children Harboring Discordant Immunological Response and Virological Nonresponse to Long-Term Antiretroviral Therapy.

Background: Biological monitoring of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected pediatric population remains challenging. The aim of the present study was to assess the long-term HIV-1 genetic diversity in gene in HIV-1-infected children in virological failure under antiretroviral regimen adapted according to the successive World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for resource-constrained settings.

Methods: HIV-1 diversity in gene was assessed in HIV-1-infected children and adolescents born from HIV-infected mothers (median age at follow-up: 13.

Hepatitis B and hepatitis D virus infections in the Central African Republic, twenty-five years after a fulminant hepatitis outbreak, indicate continuing spread in asymptomatic young adults.

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) increases morbidity in Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients. In the mid-eighties, an outbreak of HDV fulminant hepatitis (FH) in the Central African Republic (CAR) killed 88% of patients hospitalized in Bangui. We evaluated infections with HBV and HDV among students and pregnant women, 25 years after the fulminant hepatitis (FH) outbreak to determine (i) the prevalence of HBV and HDV infection in this population, (ii) the clinical risk factors for HBV and/or HDV infections, and (iii) to characterize and compare the strains from the FH outbreak in the 1980s to the 2010 HBV-HDV strains.

Emergence of G12 and G9 rotavirus genotypes in the Central African Republic, January 2014 to February 2016.

Objectives: Rotavirus gastroenteritis is a major cause of death among children under 5 years globally. A rotavirus gastroenteritis surveillance program started in October 2011 in the Central African Republic (CAR) with the Surveillance Epidémiologique en Afrique Centrale (SURVAC) project. We present here genotyping results showing the emergence of G9 and G12 genotypes in Central African Republic.

Factors associated with stunting in healthy children aged 5 years and less living in Bangui (RCA).

Stunting remains a major public health concern worldwide. Although its global prevalence is slowly decreasing, the actual number of affected children is still rising in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the Central African Republic (CAR), about one third of all children below the age of five are stunted.

Spectrum of heart diseases in children: an echocardiographic study of 1,666 subjects in a pediatric hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Background: Children's health programs in Sub-Saharan Africa have always been oriented primarily to infectious diseases and malnutrition. We are witnessing in the early 21(st) century an epidemiological transition marked by the decline of old diseases and the identification of new diseases including heart disease. Therefore, it is necessary to describe the spectrum of these diseases in order to better prepare health workers to these new challenges.

Strengthening laboratory capacity through the surveillance of rotavirus gastroenteritis in Central Africa: the Surveillance Épidémiologique en Afrique Centrale (SURVAC) Project.

Objectives: The goal of the SURVAC pilot project was to strengthen disease surveillance and response in three countries; Cameroon (CAE), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR).

Methods: Seven laboratories involved in rotavirus surveillance were provided with equipment, reagents and supplies. CDC and WHO staff provided on-site classroom and bench training in biosafety, quality assurance, quality control (QC), rotavirus diagnosis using Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) and genotyping of rotavirus strains using the Reverse Transcription Polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR).

HBV immunization and vaccine coverage among hospitalized children in Cameroon, Central African Republic and Senegal: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Hepatitis B is a major health concern in Africa. The vaccine against hepatitis B virus (HBV) was introduced into the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) of Cameroon and Senegal in 2005, and of CAR (Central African Republic) in 2008. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess HBV immunization coverage following the vaccine's introduction into the EPI and factors associated with having been vaccinated.

Molecular surveillance of rotavirus infection in Bangui, Central African Republic, October 2011-September 2013.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the introduction of rotavirus vaccine in the immunization program of all countries. In the Central African Republic (CAR), sentinel surveillance for rotavirus gastroenteritis was established in 2011 by the Ministry of Health, with the support of the Surveillance en Afrique Centrale Project (SURVAC). The purpose of this study was to assess the burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis and to identify rotavirus strains circulating in CAR before the introduction of rotavirus vaccine planned for this year, 2014.

Performance of Paracheck™-Pf, SD Bioline malaria Ag-Pf and SD Bioline malaria Ag-Pf/pan for diagnosis of falciparum malaria in the Central African Republic.

Background: Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are the current complement to microscopy for ensuring prompt malaria treatment. We determined the performance of three candidate RDTs (Paracheck™-Pf, SD Bioline malaria Ag-Pf and SD Bioline malaria Ag-Pf/pan) for rapid diagnosis of malaria in the Central African Republic.

Methods: Blood samples from consecutive febrile patients who attended for laboratory analysis of malaria at the three main health centres of Bangui were screened by microscopy and the RDTs.

Adaptive HIV-specific B cell-derived humoral immune defenses of the intestinal mucosa in children exposed to HIV via breast-feeding.

Background: We evaluated whether B cell-derived immune defenses of the gastro-intestinal tract are activated to produce HIV-specific antibodies in children continuously exposed to HIV via breast-feeding.

Methods: Couples of HIV-1-infected mothers (n = 14) and their breastfed non HIV-infected (n = 8) and HIV-infected (n = 6) babies, and healthy HIV-negative mothers and breastfed babies (n = 10) as controls, were prospectively included at the Complexe Pédiatrique of Bangui, Central African Republic. Immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG and IgM) and anti-gp160 antibodies from mother's milk and stools of breastfed children were quantified by ELISA.

Fine-needle aspiration for diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis in children in Bangui, Central African Republic.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries. One of the main difficulties is obtaining adequate specimens for bacteriological confirmation of the disease in children.The aim of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) for the diagnosis of TB.

[Epidermal Tuberculosis in an orphan living with HIV in the Pediatric Unit of Bangui (Central African Republic)].

We report the case of ulceration of the anterior chest region in a non BCG vaccinated adolescent. Tuberculosis confirmations has been made by the isolation of from the pus culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Topography and chronology of the clinical manifestations argue in favour of scrofuloderma.

Whole-cell pertussis vaccine induces low antibody levels in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children living in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO recommendations for the immunization of children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) differ slightly from the guidelines for uninfected children. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected infants should considerably prolong their life expectancy. The question of the response to the whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine should now be addressed, particularly in countries in which pertussis remains endemic.

HIV-infected children living in Central Africa have low persistence of antibodies to vaccines used in the Expanded Program on Immunization.

Background: The Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is the most cost-effective measures to control vaccine-preventable diseases. Currently, the EPI schedule is similar for HIV-infected children; the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) should considerably prolong their life expectancy.

Methods And Principal Findings: To evaluate the persistence of antibodies to the EPI vaccines in HIV-infected and HIV-exposed uninfected children who previously received these vaccines in routine clinical practice, we conducted a cross-sectional study of children, aged 18 to 36 months, born to HIV-infected mothers and living in Central Africa.

Acute bacterial meningitis at the 'Complexe Pédiatrique' of Bangui, Central African Republic.

To precis the aetiologies of children meningitis and the susceptibility to antibiotics of bacteria responsible for meningitis in Bangui, we conducted a prospective study between October 2004 and September 2005, at the 'Complexe Pédiatrique de Bangui', Central African Republic (CAR). Children from 1 day to 16 years with suspected meningitis and who underwent a lumbar puncture were enrolled. Gram staining, culture on chocolate blood medium, cell count, biochemistry (protein level, glucose ratio), capsular antigen detection were performed for each cerebrospinal fluid.