Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after natural infection: insights from a study on Pasteur Institute of Tunis employees.

This study aimed to assess the kinetics of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2, following natural infection in a cohort of employees of the Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) and to assess the risk of reinfection over a 12-months follow-up period. A prospective study was conducted among an open cohort of IPT employees with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection that were recruited between September 2020 and March 2021. Sera samples were taken at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after confirmation of COVID-19 infection and tested for SARS-CoV-2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to the spike (S-RBD) protein (IgG anti-S-RBD) and for neutralizing antibodies.

Does Endometriosis Impact the Composition of Follicular Fluid in IL6 and AMH? A Case-Control Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare follicular liquid levels of IL6 and AMH in women with and without endometriosis and to evaluate their potential impact on ICSI outcomes.

Materials And Methods: It is a prospective case-control study conducted on 25 women with proven endometriosis and 50 patients diagnosed with other causes of infertility. All these patients were candidates for ICSI cycles.

The Delta variant wave in Tunisia: Genetic diversity, spatio-temporal distribution and evidence of the spread of a divergent AY.122 sub-lineage.

Introduction: The Delta variant posed an increased risk to global public health and rapidly replaced the pre-existent variants worldwide. In this study, the genetic diversity and the spatio-temporal dynamics of 662 SARS-CoV2 genomes obtained during the Delta wave across Tunisia were investigated.

Methods: Viral whole genome and partial S-segment sequencing was performed using Illumina and Sanger platforms, respectively and lineage assignemnt was assessed using Pangolin version 1.

Tunisian Multicenter Study on the Prevalence of Colistin Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Gram Negative Bacilli: Emergence of Harbouring the Gene.

Background: Actually, no data on the prevalence of plasmid colistin resistance in Tunisia are available among clinical bacteria.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the current epidemiology of colistin resistance and the spread of the gene in clinical Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) isolated from six Tunisian university hospitals.

Methods: A total of 836 GNB strains were inoculated on COL-R agar plates with selective screening agar for the isolation of GNB resistant to colistin.

Epidemiologic patterns of hepatitis A infection during the pre-vaccination era: A population-based survey in Tunisia in 2015.

Background: In the 1980s, Tunisia was considered a country of high endemicity for hepatitis A virus (HAV). Since 2000, an epidemiologic shift has led to an increased incidence of symptomatic and severe forms of HAV infection.

Objectives: In 2015, we conducted a cross-sectional nationwide household-based hepatitis A virus (HAV) seroprevalence study in the total population regardless of age, sex, or geographic origin using a stratified sampling design to make an overview of the HAV epidemiologic situation in Tunisia before vaccine implementation.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns of among Tunisian Outpatients with Community-Acquired Urinary Tract Infection (2012-2018).

Introduction: Community-acquired urinary tract infection is one of the most common reasons for consultation in everyday practice; it represents a major source of antibiotic consumption. () is the main pathogen incriminated.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of community-acquired uropathogenic throughout a 7-year period.

Evaluation of ovarian reserve before and after chemotherapy.

Background: Progress in oncology has improved patient survival. However, cancer chemotherapy can be gonadotoxic and affect their fertility. Recourse to fertility preservation before starting these treatments is therefore necessary in order to allow a better life quality after survival.

Hepatitis viruses take advantage of traditional practices to increase the burden of hepatocellular carcinoma in Tunisia.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major public health issue in Africa. In Tunisia, hepatitis B virus (HBV) is known to be an important risk factor for HCC in the south of the country, but the role played by hepatitis C virus (HCV) still remains unclear. The aim of the current case-control study was to identify risk factors for HCC development in the northern part of the country.

Observational study of vaccine effectiveness 20 years after the introduction of universal hepatitis B vaccination in Tunisia.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to estimate the national prevalence of hepatitis B infection in Tunisia using data from a nationwide survey, to compare results with those obtained in 1996 survey and to evaluate the impact of vaccination twenty years after its introduction.

Methods: A National household-based cross sectional and serological survey was undertaken in 2015 from randomly selected districts using two-stage sampling. Data collection was performed using standardized and pretested questionnaires and collected blood samples were tested for markers of hepatitis B virus infection.

TP53 R72P polymorphism modulates DNA methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by widespread epidemiological and molecular heterogeneity. Previous work showed that in the western part of North Africa, a region of low incidence of HCC, mutations are scarce for this tumor type. As epigenetic changes are considered possible surrogates to mutations in human cancers, we decided, thus, to characterize DNA methylation in HCC from North-African patients.

Hepatitis E virus seroprevalence among hemodialysis and hemophiliac patients in Tunisia (North Africa).

The aims of this study are to determine seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Tunisian blood donors and to evaluate its risk of parenteral transmission. Sera collected from 426 blood donors were tested for HEV IgG by indirect ELISA. Individuals were recruited from two national transfusion centers, in the North and the South of the country.

Evaluation of PCR-RFLP in the Pre-S Region as Molecular Method for Hepatitis B Virus Genotyping.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a public health problem in developing countries. HBV genotypes play major role in the evolution of infection since they were involved in different clinical presentations and response to treatment.

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis for HBV genotyping.

Seroprevalence of Toscana virus infection in Tunisia.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of IgG antibodies against Toscana virus (TOSV) by an ELISA test and to determine the extent of its circulation in Tunisia.

Methods: An indirect ELISA test was performed to detect anti-TOSV IgG. The results were compared to those of an indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test.

Frequency and clinical significance of core promoter and precore region mutations in Tunisian patients infected chronically with hepatitis B.

Genetic variability of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the C gene and its association with the different stages of chronic liver disease has been studied inadequately with controversial results. The objectives of the current study were to determine the frequency of core promoter and precore mutations in chronic hepatitis B in Tunisia and to evaluate their impact on viral replication and disease progression. Sequencing was performed in upstream regulatory sequence (URS), pre-core (PreC) and basal core promoter (BCP) regions for 123 chronic infected patients by HBV genotype D at different status of disease.

Combined effect of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms on susceptibility to liver cirrhosis in Tunisian HCV-infected patients.

Purpose: Chronic hepatitis C progression is commonly attributed to the continuous activation of the immune response with an increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to fibrosis and ultimately to cirrhosis. On the contrary, anti-inflammatory cytokines, mainly interleukin (IL)-10 have a modulatory effect on hepatic fibrogenesis. The association between individual polymorphisms within cytokine genes and hepatitis C outcome is often weak and non-informative.

First multicenter study for risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma development in North Africa.

Aim: To assess the role of the major risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in the western part of North Africa.

Methods: A multicenter case control study was conducted in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria in collaboration with Pasteur Institutes in these countries. A total of 164 patients with HCC and 250 control subjects without hepatic diseases were included.

Molecular analysis of HBV genotypes and subgenotypes in the Central-East region of Tunisia.

Background: In Tunisia, country of intermediate endemicity for Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, most molecular studies on the virus have been carried out in the North of the country and little is known about other regions. The aim of this study was to determine HBV genotype and subgenotypes in Central-East Tunisia. A total of 217 HBs antigen positive patients were enrolled and determination of genotype was investigated in 130 patients with detectable HBV DNA.

Serological and molecular expression of Hepatitis B infection in patients with chronic Hepatitis C from Tunisia, North Africa.

Background: This study reports the prevalence and the viral aspects of HBV infection in HCV-positive patients from Tunisia, a country with intermediate and low endemicity for hepatitis B and C, respectively.

Results: HBV infection was assessed in the serum samples of 361 HCV-positive patients and compared to a group of HCV negative individuals. Serological markers were determined by ELISA tests and HBV DNA by real-time PCR.

Human bocaviruses are highly diverse, dispersed, recombination prone, and prevalent in enteric infections.

A new species of parvovirus, tentatively named human bocavirus 4 (HBoV4), was genetically characterized. Among 641 feces samples obtained from children and adults, the most commonly detected bocavirus species were, in descending order, HBoV2, HBoV3, HBoV4, and HBoV1, with an HBoV2 prevalence of 21% and 26% in Nigerian and Tunisian children, respectively. HBoV3 or HBoV4 species were found in 12 of 192 patients with non-polio acute flaccid paralysis in Tunisia and Nigeria and 0 of 96 healthy Tunisian contacts (P = .

Heterogeneity of hepatitis B transmission in Tunisia: risk factors for infection and chronic carriage before the introduction of a universal vaccine program.

Unlabelled: A population-based sero-epidemiological study enrolled 9486 volunteers in two governorates, Béja in the north and Tataouine in the south of Tunisia, in order to assess the magnitude of HBV transmission heterogeneity between the north and the south and within the same governorate, as well as the risk factors associated with infection and chronic carriage.

Results: The overall prevalence of anti-HBc, HBsAg and chronic carriage was 28.5, 5.

A novel picornavirus associated with gastroenteritis.

A novel picornavirus genome was sequenced, showing 42.6%, 35.2%, and 44.

Combined analysis of interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms and chronic hepatitis C severity.

Today there is increasing evidence concerning the contribution of pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance and genetic factors in hepatitis C pathogenesis and interindividual heterogeneity of disease outcome. In the current study, we investigated the influence of functionally described single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in interferon-gamma (IFNgamma) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) genes, on chronic hepatitis C severity. IFNgamma (+874T/A) and IL-10 (-1082G/A) genotypes were determined in 100 hepatitis C patients with different disease severities (chronic hepatitis, n = 42, liver cirrhosis [LC], and hepatocellular carcinoma in liver cirrhosis [HCC], n = 58) and 103 healthy controls using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction.