Intestinal parasites infections in hospitalized AIDS patients in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

To determine the prevalence and the species spectrum of intestinal parasites (IP) involved in hospitalized AIDS patients, a prospective observational and cross-sectional study was carried out in the four main hospitals in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. From November 2006 through September 2007, a single stool sample was collected from 175 hospitalized AIDS patients older than 15 years. Parasites were detected by light microscopy, including Ziehl-Neelsen, Fungi-Fluor, modified trichrome stains, and by immunofluorescence antibody tests and PCR for species diagnosis of microsporidia.

A possible case of spontaneous Loa loa encephalopathy associated with a glomerulopathy.

It is well known that renal and neurological complications may occur after antifilarial treatment of patients infected with Loa loa. Conversely, spontaneous cases of visceral complications of loiasis have been rarely reported. A 31-year-old Congolese male patient who had not received any antifilarial drug developed oedema of the lower limbs, and then transient swellings of upper limbs.

[Epidemiology of snakebites in sugar cane plantations of Kwilu Ngongo in Democratic Republic of Congo].

An epidemiological study was undertaken in a sugar cane plantation of the Sugar Company of Kwilu Ngongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to evaluate the incidence of the snakebites, to report the epidemiological and clinical indicators and the therapeutic practices. The plantations extend by 41 km covering about 10,000 hectares in arboreal savannahs. The method associated i) a retrospective survey carried out from the registers of two health centres located in the heart of the plantations, then in the files of the central hospital of the sugar company and in a public health centre, and ii) an household survey using a questionnaire administered to 579 concessions and households over six years.

[Preliminary results of an herpetology investigation in sugar cane plantation in Democratic Republic of Congo].

Out of the 3,000 species of snakes described in the world, 163 are currently known from D.R. of Congo.

Predictors of stroke - associated mortality in Africans.

Background: The objective of the study was to examine the association of the stroke-related mortality with gender, age, ethnicity, social class, blood pressure, fibrinogen, selected clinical data and meteorologic parameters in hospitalized Africans.

Methods: A series of 1032 consecutively hospitalized incident cases of acute stroke between 1987 and 1991 was studied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to estimate the risk (odds ratio=OR) of stroke mortality for meteorologic parameters on the month before the accident onset and selected sociodemophysiological variables on the day of admission.