Publications by authors named "Sylvestre Gambalemoke Mbalitini"
Article Synopsis
- Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant global health issue, affecting about 3% of people, but its animal origins remain unclear.
- Recent research in sub-Saharan Africa uncovered 80 hepacivirus-positive samples across diverse small mammal species, revealing a wealth of genetic diversity in these viruses.
- The study highlights rodents as potential reservoirs for hepaciviruses and suggests they could be useful for exploring HCV infection dynamics and evolution.
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently emerged as an alternative to morphological and molecular tools to identify tick species. In this study, we set out to evaluate and confirm the ability of MALDI-TOF MS to identify different species of ticks collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and preserved in 70% ethanol. A total of 575 ticks, of which 530 were collected from domestic pigs and 45 from wild animals, were subjected to MALDI-TOF MS analysis to evaluate the intraspecies reproducibility and interspecies specificity of MS profiles obtained from the different species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Congo Basin rainforest is the second largest rainforest in the world and one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. Nevertheless, the Congo Basin biodiversity remains to be fully mapped, with many species awaiting discovery or official description. In recent years, much effort has been put into research on shrews (Soricidae), particularly in the region around Kisangani (D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The hero shrew has super strong back bones that help it be unique among mammals.
- Scientists found a new type of shrew that has traits between the hero shrew and other shrews.
- They think the hero shrew’s strong back helps it lift heavy things to find food that other animals can’t reach.