A Comprehensive Study on the Hematological Progression of Sickle Cell Disease Patients with COVID-19 at the Center for Research and Control of Sickle Cell Disease, Bamako.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is a real crisis that has exposed the unpreparedness of many healthcare systems worldwide. Several underlying health conditions have been identified as risk factors, including sickle cell disease, a chronic illness with various complications that can increase the risk of severe COVID-19 infection. Our study aimed to investigate the profile of sickle cell patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and explore any potential relationship between these two conditions.

Soil fungal communities of ectomycorrhizal dominated woodlands across West Africa.

Forests and woodlands in the West African Guineo-Sudanian transition zone contain many tree species that form symbiotic interactions with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. These fungi facilitate plant growth by increasing nutrient and water uptake and include many fruiting body-forming fungi, including some edible mushrooms. Despite their importance for ecosystem functioning and anthropogenic use, diversity and distribution of ECM fungi is severely under-documented in West Africa.

Performance of Xpert MTB/RIF in comparison with light-emitting diode-fluorescence microscopy and culture for detecting tuberculosis in pulmonary and extrapulmonary specimens in Bamako, Mali.

Background: The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) has mostly been relied on a long-used method called sputum smear microscopy. In 2010, Xpert MTB/RIF assay was approved by the World Health Organization for simultaneous TB diagnosis and detection of resistance. Our current study was undertaken to compare the diagnostic performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay to auramine staining-based light-emitting diode-Fluorescence Microscopy (LED-FM) considering culture as the gold standard method for pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB.