The effect of the ongoing civil strife on key immunisation outcomes in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

Background: Civil strife has long been recognized as a significant barrier in the fight against vaccine preventable diseases in several parts of the world. However, little is known about the impact of the ongoing civil strife on the immunisation system in the Northwest (NW) and Southwest (SW) regions of Cameroon, which erupted in late 2016. In this paper, we assessed the effect of the conflict on key immunisation outcomes in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

Decentralised facility-based training as an alternative model for SLMTA implementation: The Cameroon experience.

Background: The Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme is designed to build institutional capacity to help strengthen the tiered laboratory system. Most countries implement the SLMTA three-workshop series using a centralised model, whereby participants from several laboratories travel to one location to be trained together.

Objectives: We assessed the effectiveness and cost of conducting SLMTA training in a decentralised manner as compared to centralised training.

The lipid profile of HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in a rural Cameroonian population.

Background: Long term use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWHIV) is associated with disturbances in blood lipids which should be monitored. More data on such disturbances are needed in Cameroon to persuade the country program to institute their routine monitoring. We then sought to determine the prevalence and timing of dyslipidaemia in PLWHIV and receiving ART in a predominantly rural Cameroonian setting.

Circulating recombinant form (CRF) 37_cpx: an old strain in Cameroon composed of diverse, genetically distant lineages of subtypes A and G.

HIV-1 in Cameroon is genetically diverse, but is predominated by the circulating recombinant form (CRF) 02_AG, which cocirculates among an array of other CRFs, unique recombinant forms (URFs), and all group M subtypes. In particular, our studies of HIV-1 diversity in the East Province found a high proportion of URFs and second generation recombinants (SGRs), suggesting this region of Cameroon may be a breading ground for new CRFs. Herein we present the full-length sequence analysis of one such CRF, composed primarily (66%) of unique, distant lineages of subtypes A and G in alternating regions throughout the genome.

Distribution of CCR2-64I and SDF1-3'A alleles and HIV status in 7 ethnic populations of Cameroon.

Limited information is available on the prevalence among rural Africans of host genetic polymorphisms conferring resistance to HIV-1 infection or slowing HIV disease progression. We report the allelic frequencies of the AIDS-related polymorphisms CCR2-64I, SDF1-3'A, and CCR5-Delta32 in 321 volunteers from 7 ethnic groups in Cameroon. Allelic frequencies differed among the 7 ethnic groups, ranging from 10.

Enfuvirtide binding domain is highly conserved in non-B HIV type 1 strains from Cameroon, West Central Africa.

Recently T-20 or enfuvirtide, the first drug of a new class of antiretrovirals targeting the entry stage of the virus life cycle, has been clinically approved. Enfuvirtide is a peptide derived from the HR2 region of the transmembrane glycoprotein from the HXB2 HIV-1 subtype B prototype strain that binds to the HR1 region. Drug resistance seems to occur in the HR1 region between amino acids 36 and 45.

Evaluation of four simple/rapid assays and two fourth-generation ELISAs for the identification of HIV infection on a serum panel representing the HIV-1 group M genetic diversity in Cameroon.

The performance of 4 rapid and simple assays: Camstix-HIV 1+2 (Camdiagnostix, Yaounde, Cameroon); Determine HIV 1+2+0 (Abbott Laboratories, Tokyo, Japan); Genie II HIV-1/HIV-2 (Bio-Rad, Marnes la Coquette, France); ImmunoComb II HIV 1 & 2 BiSpot (Orgenics, Yavne, Israel); and 2 fourth-generation ELISAs: Enzygnost HIV Integral (Dade Behring, Marburg, Germany) and Genscreen plus HIV Ag-Ab (Bio-Rad, Marnes la Coquette, France) currently used in Cameroon to detect HIV infections were evaluated on a local serum panel. A total of 503 samples were collected, using the Camstix-HIV 1+2 assay. Overall, 280 samples were confirmed HIV positive, 181 were negative, and 42 were indeterminate.

Protease mutations in HIV-1 non-B strains infecting drug-naive villagers in Cameroon.

To describe the presence of protease inhibitor (PI) resistance-associated mutations and subtype distribution in drug-naive villagers of six provinces of Cameroon, we sequenced the protease (PR) gene (297 bp) of 128 viruses. Secondary PI resistance-associated mutations were identified at five sites: L10I/V (16%), K20R (8%), M36I (98%), L63P (13%), and V77I (6%). No primary mutation in the PR was identified.

Genetic and biological properties of HIV type 1 isolates prevalent in villagers of the Cameroon equatorial rain forests and grass fields: further evidence of broad HIV type 1 genetic diversity.

To understand the evolution of HIV-1, the genetic and biological characteristics of viruses that infect persons living in regions in which the virus has been evolving for several decades must be studied. Thus, we investigated teh genetic subtypes, coreceptor usage, and syncytium-inducing ability of viruses in 47 HIV-1-infected blood samples from individuals living in rural villages in the equatorial rain forest and grass field regions in Cameroon. Heteroduplex mobility analysis (HMA) of gag (part of p24 and p7) and env (C2V5) or sequence and phylogenetic analysis of gag (part of p24 and p7), pol (protease), and env (C2V5), revealed a broad HIV-1 group M genetic diversity.