Background: Cryptococcus neoformans is encapsulated yeast which causes life-threatening infections in up to 40% of AIDS patients in Africa. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of cryptococcosis among HIV infected patients in Yaounde. Methods: In a hospital-based surveillance study of cryptococcosis, the colonization of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), urine and blood sample by C. neoformans was evaluated by direct microscopic examination and culture techniques. Data obtained were then analyzed based on the medical records of the patients. Results: Among the105 patients sampled for the study, the CD4 counts varied between 31 and 304 lymphocytes/mm

Gastric colonization by Helicobacter pylori increases the risk of gastric disorders, including atrophic gastritis which can be diagnosed based on levels of serum biomarkers like Gastrin and Pepsinogen. We therefore examined the efficacy of a serological-based method namely GastroPanel Blood kit, in diagnosing and scoring gastritis associated to Helicobacter pylori infection.

BackgroundUrinary tract infection (UTI) is usually defined as the presence of actively multiplying organisms in any part of the urinary tract such as kidneys, bladder, and urethra (1,2). Bacterial agents are mainly implicated as the causative germs of UTIs (3,4) which account for more than 95% of all cases (5). Viruses, parasites, and fungi may also be responsible for this type of infection, especially in immuno-compromised individuals (1,3). Each year, about 150 million urinary infection cases are recorded worldwide costing the world economy over six billion US dollars (5,6). According to some reports, several factors such as age, gender, race, and circumcision status are associated with an increased risk of UTI (1). The bulk of UTIinduced burden is concentrated on children, pregnant women, child-bearing women, and immunocompromised individuals (1,3).Similarly, evidence-based information regarding the epidemiology of UTIs is increasingly released but disseminated in the African continent. However, the existing studies evaluating the prevalence of UTI causative germs emphasized the significant predominance of Gram-negative bacteria with Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae as the most prevalent germs (7-10).Young children represent one of the most social groups who are at the risk of UTI (1,3) which is a common and important public health problem since its symptoms in children may be subtle or non-specific making the diagnosis more complicated (11,12). In general, the symptoms in children may include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, poor appetite, irritability, and the overall feeling of illness (4). When UTI is not early diagnosed, life-threatening complications such as sepsis and renal scarring may occur as a consequence. In addition, renal scarring is the most common cause of hypertension in later childhood and renal failure in adulthood (3,7,12).In developing countries particularly in resourceconstrained ones, the treatment of UTI heavily relies on an empiric or probabilistic approach (2,7,12) which owing to various reasons, may be initiated even before the availability of the final laboratory diagnostic test results (6). Accordingly, this increases the drug pressure which the uropathogens are exposed to and thus leads to the

No abstract

Étude de la toxicité aigüe et subaigüe de l'extrait au vin de palme des rhizomes de Curcuma longa Linn.