Snakebite frequencies and envenomation case management in primary health centers of the Bobo-Dioulasso health district (Burkina Faso) from 2014 to 2018.

Background: Snakebite envenomation is a significant public health problem in Burkina Faso. Our study describes the epidemiological and therapeutic aspects of snakebite cases at primary health centers in Houet Province, which is located in the western area of Burkina Faso.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 664 snakebite cases occurring at 10 primary health centers in Houet Province from January 2014 to December 2018.

Epidemiology of tick-borne borreliosis in Morocco.

Background: The presence in Morocco of Argasid ticks of the Ornithodoros erraticus complex, the vector of tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) in North Africa, has been known since 1919, but the disease is rarely diagnosed and few epidemiological data are available.

Methodology/principal Findings: Between 2006 and 2011, we investigated the presence of Ornithodoros ticks in rodent burrows in 34 sites distributed across Morocco. We also collected small mammals in 10 sites and we investigated TBRF in febrile patients in Kenitra district.

The phylogeny of cobras inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences: evolution of venom spitting and the phylogeography of the African spitting cobras (Serpentes: Elapidae: Naja nigricollis complex).

We use phylogenetic analysis of 1333 bp of mitochondrial DNA sequence to investigate the phylogeny and historical biogeography of the cobra-like elapid snakes, with special reference to the evolution of spitting and the phylogeography of the African spitting cobras, a radiation widespread in open vegetational formations throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that spitting adaptations appear to have evolved three times in cobras, but alternative scenarios cannot be rejected. The Asiatic Naja are monophyletic and originate from a single colonization of Asia from Africa.