Chronic respiratory disease observatory for Africa (CHEST-Africa): study protocol for the prevalence, determinants and economic impacts of asthma and COPD in Africa.

Introduction: Contemporary data on the burden of chronic respiratory diseases in sub-Saharan Africa is limited. More so, their economic burden is not well described. This study aims to establish a chronic respiratory disease observatory for Africa.

Bombé, an undetermined substance that caused an outbreak of illicit drug use in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background: Illegal drugs are becoming a public health problem in African cities. In 2021, Bombé, a new drug of unknown composition, caused an outbreak of neuro-psychiatric symptoms in Kinshasa. Bombé was rumored to be based on ground catalytic exhausts stolen from cars.

Fragile X syndrome in Democratic Republic of Congo: dysmorphic, cognitive and behavioral findings in 14 subjects from three families.

This study reports on 14 individuals with Fragile X syndrome from 3 Congolese Families. The majority (8/14) were males, with an average age of 18.4 (±11.

Erectile dysfunction in copper and cobalt miners: a cross-sectional study in the former Katanga province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background: The African Copperbelt is a site of intense artisanal and industrial mining and refining of copper and cobalt.

Aim: We aimed to investigate factors that are possibly associated with erectile dysfunction (ED) in metal miners in the former Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study of 138 miners and 139 controls (bakers), we administered questionnaires to obtain sociodemographic and occupational data and to assess male sexual function (International Index of Erectile Function [IIEF]) and marital relation quality (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale).

Transplacental transfer of cobalt: Evidence from a study of mothers and their neonates in the African Copperbelt.

Background: Transfer of the trace metal cobalt (Co) from mother to foetus has not been documented in populations with high environmental exposure to Co, as is the case in the African Copperbelt mining region. We analysed data obtained from 246 mother-infant pairs included (at delivery) in a previously published case-control study on birth defects, done in Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo) between March 1, 2013, and Feb 28, 2015.

Methods: Co was measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry in maternal blood, maternal urine, umbilical cord blood and placental tissue, as available.

Usefulness of automated image analysis for recognition of the fragile X syndrome gestalt in Congolese subjects.

Background: Computer-aided software such as the facial image diagnostic aid (FIDA) and Face2Gene has been developed to perform pattern recognition of facial features with promising clinical results. The aim of this pilot study was to test Face2Gene's recognition performance on Bantu Congolese subjects with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) as compared to Congolese subjects with intellectual disability but without FXS (non-FXS).

Method: Frontal facial photograph from 156 participants (14 patients with FXS and 142 controls) predominantly young-adults to adults, median age 18.

Deep venous thrombosis and acute pericarditis associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in a Congolese infant with sickle cell disease: a case report.

Background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, no severe pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 cases have been described in Congo.

Case: We studied a 3-month-old male child of Congolese origin who was admitted to the pediatric department with 7-day history of fever, unilateral lower leg swelling, and dyspnea. There was no known history of contact with a coronavirus disease 2019 patient, and all the family members were asymptomatic.

Energy Drink Consumption among Adolescents Attending Schools in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: The consumption of energy drinks (EDs) is increasing in the general population, but little is known about the consumption of EDs among pupils in Africa. This study was designed to assess the consumption of EDs among pupils between 10 and 17 years of age and to assess average caffeine concentrations contained in EDs sold in Lubumbashi.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in five schools using a standardised questionnaire taken face-to-face.

Occupational rhinitis and asthma in bakers: a cross-sectional study in the former Katanga province of DR Congo.

Objective: Bakers are at high risk of rhinitis and asthma, but the prevalence of these occupational diseases is not well known in Sub-Saharan Africa. We investigated the prevalence of occupational rhinitis and asthma among industrial bakers in the former province of Katanga.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study conducted in eight towns from October 2018 to September 2019, we included 276 male workers from 18 industrial bakeries and 113 male controls (35 butchers and 78 bread sellers), all nonsmokers.

Acute and chronic exposure to air pollution in relation with incidence, prevalence, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a rapid systematic review.

Background: Air pollution is one of the world's leading mortality risk factors contributing to seven million deaths annually. COVID-19 pandemic has claimed about one million deaths in less than a year. However, it is unclear whether exposure to acute and chronic air pollution influences the COVID-19 epidemiologic curve.

Telomere length and outcome of treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis in a gold mining community.

Telomere length (TL) is a marker of ageing and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is an early marker of inflammation caused by oxidative stress. We determined TL and mtDNA content among active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients to assess if these cellular biomarkers differed between artisanal miners and non-miners, and to assess if they were predictive of treatment outcome. We conducted a prospective cohort study from August 2018 to May 2019 involving newly diagnosed PTB patients at three outpatient TB clinics in a rural Democratic Republic of Congo.

Respiratory Health and Urinary Trace Metals among Artisanal Stone-Crushers: A Cross-Sectional Study in Lubumbashi, DR Congo.

Background: Thousands of artisanal workers are exposed to mineral dusts from various origins in the African Copperbelt. We determined the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, and urinary metals among artisanal stone-crushers in Lubumbashi.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 48 male artisanal stone-crushers and 50 male taxi-drivers using a standardized questionnaire and spirometry.

Agnathia otocephaly: A case from the Katanga Copperbelt.

Background: Agnathia otocephaly is a rare craniofacial malformation complex characterised by absent/hypoplastic mandible, abnormally positioned ears meeting at level of neck. Besides mutations in two genes, PRRX1 and OTX2, a teratogenic cause has been suggested. A higher risk of congenital malformations has been associated with paternal work in mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's part of the Copperbelt.

Metal mining and birth defects: a case-control study in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Background: Widespread environmental contamination caused by mining of copper and cobalt has led to concerns about the possible association between birth defects and exposure to several toxic metals in southern Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We therefore aimed to assess the possible contribution of parental and antenatal exposure to trace metals to the occurrence of visible birth defects among neonates.

Methods: We did a case-control study between March 1, 2013, and Feb 28, 2015, in Lubumbashi, DRC.

Erectile dysfunction and mining-related jobs: an explorative study in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Introduction: The African Copperbelt is a site of intense artisanal and industrial mining and refining of copper and cobalt. Anecdotal reports of erectile dysfunction (ED) among mineworkers in the area led us to conduct an explorative study to investigate the possible association between ED and working in mining-related jobs.

Methods: We included 42 consecutive men (18-40 years) buying sildenafil (the active substance of Viagra) from a pharmacy located in a popular neighbourhood in Lubumbashi, and 42 age-matched (±2 years) men buying painkillers.

Holoprosencephaly: A case series from an area with high mining-related pollution.

Background: The extraction and processing of copper and cobalt in the African Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo have led to substantial environmental pollution, causing concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, including birth defects.

Cases: We report three neonates with clinically diagnosed holoprosencephaly who were part of a case-control study performed in Lubumbashi between February 2013 and February 2015. One mother had a high concentration of uranium in urine, and high manganese concentrations were found in blood of another mother and in cord blood of one infant.

Household Air Pollution Is Associated with Chronic Cough but Not Hemoptysis after Completion of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Treatment in Adults, Rural Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Little is known about the respiratory health damage related to household air pollution (HAP) in survivors of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). In a population-based cross-sectional study, we determined the prevalence and associated predictors of chronic cough and hemoptysis in 441 randomly selected PTB survivors living in 13 remote health zones with high TB burden in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Trained community and health-care workers administered a validated questionnaire.

Sustainability of artisanal mining of cobalt in DR Congo.

The sustainability of cobalt is an important emerging issue because this critical base metal is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. More than half the world's cobalt mine production comes from the Katanga Copperbelt in DR Congo, with a substantial proportion (estimated at 15-20%) being extracted by artisanal miners. Here we show, in a case study performed in the town of Kolwezi, that people living in a neighbourhood that had been transformed into an artisanal cobalt mine, had much higher levels of cobalt in urine and blood than people living in a nearby control area.

Preeclampsia and blood lead (and other metals) in Lubumbashi, DR Congo.

Among parturient women in Lubumbashi, blood lead concentrations [geometric means (25th-75th percentiles)] were higher among 40 women with preeclampsia [6.66 µg/dL (5.16-79.

Meningocele in a congolese female with beckwith-wiedemann phenotype.

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is a rare congenital syndrome characterized by an overgrowth, macroglossia, exomphalos, and predisposition to embryonal tumors. Central nervous abnormalities associated with BWS are rare. We describe a one-day-old Congolese female who presented meningocele associated with BWS phenotype.