Prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Gabon: a population study.

Background: Data supporting epidemiological transition from a predominant burden of infectious diseases to one of chronic diseases in Africa result mostly from hospital surveys.

Aim: To estimate the cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden in Gabon.

Methods: The study was conducted in Ntoum (8765 inhabitants).

[Intermittent claudication: sign of epidemiological transition in Gabon].

Africa is in the midst of an epidemiological transition characterized by an increase in degenerative illnesses, in particular cardiovascular disease, and a decrease in infectious illnesses. In this context it is of critical importance to develop simple and effective low-cost tools to identify subjects at high risk for cardiovascular events. Screening for subclavian artery stenosis (SAS) could provide a useful risk indicator.

[Two cases of probable immune restoration syndrome under antiretroviral treatment in patients treated for tuberculosis in Gabon].

Tuberculosis can be reactivated under specific treatment, as immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), in HIV patients under antiretroviral treatment. We report two observations of tuberculosis exacerbation with extension to other territories (lymph node and pericarditis) occurring 3 weeks and 4 months after administration of tuberculosis treatment, with a favourable development, in absence of rehabilitation or addition of complementary therapy These observations show the necessity of increased surveillance on the short, medium and long term in patients with both treatment for tuberculosis and antiretroviral treatment.