Wound colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and hypotheses about acquisition routes in rural health care settings in Sub-Saharan Africa: Perspective from a center devoted to the treatment of cutaneous neglected tropical diseases.

We identified a high prevalence (46.4%) of wound colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in patients hospitalized in a center devoted to the treatment of cutaneous tropical diseases in Benin. The proportion of MRSA among S aureus isolates was 54.

Community based integrated wound care: Results of a pilot formative research conducted in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Appropriate treatment of chronic wounds is priority in the management of Neglected Tropical Skin Diseases (NTSDs) and non-communicable diseases. We describe an integrated, community-based wound care pilot project carried out in Benin and Cote d'Ivoire that entailed both outreach education and evidence based wound care training for nurses staffing rural clinics. This research was carried out by a transdisciplinary research.

Is Benin on track to reach universal household coverage of basic water, sanitation and hygiene services by 2030?

Introduction: With the end of the Millennium Agenda, the United Nations Member States adopted the Sustainable Development Agenda in 2015. This new agenda identifies 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets for 2030, including Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Objective: To study the evolution of household access to WASH services over the last two decades in Benin and make projections for 2030.

An Overview of 10 Years of Activity of a Molecular Laboratory for Buruli Ulcer Diagnosis at a Field Hospital in Benin.

Buruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Early diagnosis is crucial to prevent morbidity. In November 2012, a field laboratory fully equipped for the rapid on-site quantitative PCR (qPCR) diagnosis of M.

Importance of consultations using mobile teams in the screening and treatment of neglected tropical skin diseases in Benin.

Context: Since 2013, the World Health Organization has recommended integrated control strategies for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) with skin manifestations. We evaluated the implementation of an integrated approach to the early detection and rapid treatment of skin NTDs based on mobile clinics in the Ouémé and Plateau areas of Benin.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in Ouémé and Plateau in Benin from 2018 to 2020.

WASH and NTDs: Outcomes and lessons learned from the implementation of a formative research study in NTD skin co-endemic communities in Benin.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal diseases affecting people, most of whom live below the poverty threshold. Several control strategies are defined against these diseases, including chemotherapy and Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH). This study assesses the effect of promoting hygiene and sanitation on soil-transmitted helminthiasis s and NTDs of the skin.

Comparison of 8 weeks standard treatment (rifampicin plus clarithromycin) vs. 4 weeks standard plus amoxicillin/clavulanate treatment [RC8 vs. RCA4] to shorten Buruli ulcer disease therapy (the BLMs4BU trial): study protocol for a randomized controlled multi-centre trial in Benin.

Background: Buruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans that affects skin, soft tissues, and bones, causing long-term morbidity, stigma, and disability. The recommended treatment for BU requires 8 weeks of daily rifampicin and clarithromycin together with wound care, physiotherapy, and sometimes tissue grafting and surgery. Recovery can take up to 1 year, and it may pose an unbearable financial burden to the household.

Associated factors study into the belated screening for leprosy in Benin.

Introduction: In the absence of early treatment, leprosy, a neglected tropical disease, due to Mycobacterium leprae or Hansen Bacillus, causes irreversible grade 2 disability (G2D) numerous factors related to the individual, the community and the health care system are believed to be responsible for its late detection and management. This study aims to investigate the factors associated with belated screening for leprosy in Benin.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study conducted from January 1 to June 31, 2019, involving all patients and staff in leprosy treatment centers and public peripheral level health structures in Benin.

Leprosy in wild chimpanzees.

Humans are considered as the main host for Mycobacterium leprae, the aetiological agent of leprosy, but spillover has occurred to other mammals that are now maintenance hosts, such as nine-banded armadillos and red squirrels. Although naturally acquired leprosy has also been described in captive nonhuman primates, the exact origins of infection remain unclear. Here we describe leprosy-like lesions in two wild populations of western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau and Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.

Trends of the leprosy control indicators in Benin from 2006 to 2018.

Background: Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics of leprosy in Benin from 2006 to 2018.

Methods: This descriptive retrospective study included data from January 2006 to December 2018.

Integrated approach in the control and management of skin neglected tropical diseases in three health districts of Côte d'Ivoire.

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) comprise 20 communicable diseases that are prevalent in rural poor and remote communities with less access to the health system. For effective and efficient control, the WHO recommends that affected countries implement integrated control interventions that take into account the different co-endemic NTDs in the same community. However, implementing these integrated interventions involving several diseases with different etiologies, requiring different control approaches and driven by different vertical programs, remains a challenge.

Stable and Local Reservoirs of Mycobacterium ulcerans Inferred from the Nonrandom Distribution of Bacterial Genotypes, Benin.

Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, a neglected tropical disease found in rural areas of West and Central Africa. Despite the ongoing efforts to tackle Buruli ulcer epidemics, the environmental reservoir of its pathogen remains elusive, underscoring the need for new approaches to improving disease prevention and management. In our study, we implemented a local-scale spatial clustering model and deciphered the genetic diversity of the bacteria in a small area of Benin where Buruli ulcer is endemic.

Effect of well drilling on Buruli ulcer incidence in Benin: a case-control, quantitative survey.

Background: Buruli ulcer is the third most common mycobacterial disease worldwide. The public health burden of this neglected tropical disease is large, particularly in poor areas of west and central Africa. The development of appropriate preventive strategies is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the epidemiology and transmission of the disease.

The gendered impact of Buruli ulcer on the household production of health and social support networks: Why decentralization favors women.

Background: Buruli ulcer [BU] is a chronic and debilitating neglected tropical skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. The treatment of moderate to severe BU affects the well-being of entire households and places a strain on both gender relations within households and social relations with kin asked for various types of support. In this paper, we employ the conceptual lenses provided by the Household Production of Health approach to understanding the impact of illness on the household as a unit of analysis, gender studies, and social support related research to better understand BU health care decision making and the psychosocial experience of BU hospitalization.

Decrease in Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer) in the Lalo District of Bénin (West Africa).

Background: Buruli ulcer (BU) is a chronic, necrotizing infectious skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. In recent years, there has been a decrease in the number of new cases detected. This study aimed to show the evolution of its distribution in the Lalo District in Bénin from 2006 to 2017.

The paediatric participation scale measuring participation restrictions among former Buruli Ulcer patients under the age of 15 in Ghana and Benin: Development and first validation results.

Background: Buruli Ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Former BU patients may experience participation restrictions due to physical limitations, stigmatization and other social factors. A scale that measures participation restrictions among children, who represent almost half of the affected population, has not been developed yet.

Healthcare-associated infections: bacteriological characterization of the hospital surfaces in the University Hospital of Abomey-Calavi/so-ava in South Benin (West Africa).

Background: Healthcare-associated infections have become a public health problem, creating a new burden on medical care in hospitals. The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria poses a difficult task for physicians, who have limited therapeutic options. The dissemination of pathogens depends on "reservoirs", the different transmission pathways of the infectious agents and the factors favouring them.

Integrated approach in the control and management of skin neglected tropical diseases in Lalo, Benin.

Background: Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group of several communicable diseases prevalent in the tropical and subtropical areas. The co-endemicity of these diseases, the similarity of the clinical signs, and need to maximize limited financial and human resources have necessitated implementation of integrated approach. Our study aims to share the lessons of this integrated approach in the fight against Buruli ulcer (BU), leprosy and yaws in a rural district in Benin.

Delayed versus standard assessment for excision surgery in patients with Buruli ulcer in Benin: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Surgical intervention was once the mainstay of treatment for Buruli ulcer disease, a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Since the introduction of streptomycin and rifampicin for 8 weeks as standard care, surgery has persisted as an adjunct therapy, but its role is uncertain. We investigated the effect of delaying the decision to operate to 14 weeks on rates of healing without surgery.

Implementation of a decentralized community-based treatment program to improve the management of Buruli ulcer in the Ouinhi district of Benin, West Africa.

Background: Mycobacterium ulcerans infection, commonly known as Buruli ulcer (BU), is a debilitating neglected tropical disease. Its management remains complex and has three main components: antibiotic treatment combining rifampicin and streptomycin for 56 days, wound dressings and skin grafts for large ulcerations, and physical therapy to prevent functional limitations after care. In Benin, BU patient care is being integrated into the government health system.

Report of a series of 82 cases of Buruli ulcer from Nigeria treated in Benin, from 2006 to 2016.

Background: Nigeria is one of the countries endemic for Buruli ulcer (BU) in West Africa but did not have a control programme until recently. As a result, BU patients often access treatment services in neighbouring Benin where dedicated health facilities have been established to provide treatment free of charge for BU patients. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological, clinical, biological and therapeutic characteristics of cases from Nigeria treated in three of the four treatment centers in Benin.

Transmission of Drug-Resistant Leprosy in Guinea-Conakry Detected Using Molecular Epidemiological Approaches.

Molecular drug susceptibility testing was performed on skin biopsies from 24 leprosy patients from Guinea-Conakry for the first time. We identified primary drug resistance in 4 cases and a dapsone-resistant cluster caused by the same strain. Primary transmission of drug-resistant Mycobacterium leprae, including a rifampicin-resistant strain, is reported.

Steps Toward Creating A Therapeutic Community for Inpatients Suffering from Chronic Ulcers: Lessons from Allada Buruli Ulcer Treatment Hospital in Benin.

Background: Reducing social distance between hospital staff and patients and establishing clear lines of communication is a major challenge when providing in-patient care for people afflicted by Buruli ulcer (BU) and chronic ulcers. Research on hospitals as therapeutic communities is virtually non-existent in Africa and is currently being called for by medical anthropologists working in the field of health service and policy planning. This paper describes a pioneering attempt to establish a therapeutic community for patients suffering from BU and other chronic ulcers requiring long term hospital care in Benin.

Genetic Susceptibility and Predictors of Paradoxical Reactions in Buruli Ulcer.

Introduction: Buruli ulcer (BU) is the third most frequent mycobacterial disease in immunocompetent persons after tuberculosis and leprosy. During the last decade, eight weeks of antimicrobial treatment has become the standard of care. This treatment may be accompanied by transient clinical deterioration, known as paradoxical reaction.