To date, only a few cases of malaria and dengue co-infections have been reported around the world. We describe for the first time in Cameroon, concurrent infections among children (2 to 10 years) in two health centers of Yaoundé. The two dengue strains isolated in Cameroon clustered with the Asian II genotype. Although acute concurrent infections were benign, special attention should be given to malaria and dengue co-infection in order to prevent possible severe cases.

The first outbreak of influenza A(H3N2) occurred in 1968 and caused the third flu pandemic of the 20th century. It has affected multiple countries over time. The best strategy to reduce the burden of influenza is through vaccination whose efficacy varies with respect to the circulating strains. This study was performed to better understand the molecular evolution of influenza A(H3N2) and assess vaccine efficacy in Cameroon. Complete sequences of three gene segments were obtained from 2014 to 2016 influenza seasons in Cameroon. Hemagglutinin (HA), Neuraminidase (NA) and matrix (M) genes of 35 A(H3N2) virus strains were amplified and sequenced. Predicted vaccine efficacy was measured using the Pepitope model. Phylogenetic analysis of the HA gene showed that all Cameroonian strains had evolved away from the 3C.1-A/Texas/50/2012-like clade. Globally, 2014 virus strains clustered with the 2015–2016 vaccine strain, 3C.3a-A/Switzerland/9715293/2013, whereas 2015 and 2016 virus strains clustered with the 2016–2017 vaccine strain, 3C.2a-A/HongKong/4801/2014. In order to determine the genotypic drug susceptibility to neuraminidase inhibitors and amantadine, the NA and M2 protein coding sequences were analyzed. There was no strain with characteristic mutation for resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors, per contra; all strains possessed the substitution S31N, peculiar of resistance to adamantanes. There was drift in influenza A(H3N2) dominant epitopes B (2014 and 2015) to epitopes A (2016) with a theoretical efficiency in vaccine ranging from low to moderate. The presence of several antigenic site mutations among H3N2 virus strains between 2014–2016 influenza seasons in Cameroon confirms the progressing evolution of circulating H3N2 strains.

Influenza is associated with highly contagious respiratory infections. Previous research has found that influenza transmission is often associated with climate variables especially in temperate regions. This study was performed in order to fill the gap of knowledge regarding the relationship between incidence of influenza and three meteorological parameters (temperature, rainfall and humidity) in a tropical setting. This was a retrospective study performed in Yaoundé-Cameroon from January 2009 to November 2015. Weekly proportions of confirmed influenza cases from five sentinel sites were considered as dependent variables, whereas weekly values of mean temperature, average relative humidity and accumulated rainfall were considered as independent variables. A univariate linear regression model was used in determining associations between influenza activity and weather covariates. A time-series method was used to predict on future values of influenza activity. The data was divided into 2 parts; the first 71 months were used to calibrate the model, and the last 12 months to test for prediction. Overall, there were 1173 confirmed infections with influenza virus. Linear regression analysis showed that there was no statistically significant association observed between influenza activity and weather variables. Very weak relationships (-0.1 < r < 0.1) were observed. Three prediction models were obtained for the different viral types (overall positive, Influenza A and Influenza B). Model 1 (overall influenza) and model 2 (influenza A) fitted well during the estimation period; however, they did not succeed to make good forecasts for predictions. Accumulated rainfall was the only external covariate that enabled good fit of both models. Based on the stationary R2, 29.5% and 41.1% of the variation in the series can be explained by model 1 and 2, respectively. This study laid more emphasis on the fact that influenza in Cameroon is characterized by year-round activity. The meteorological variables selected in this study did not enable good forecast of future influenza activity and certainly acted as proxies to other factors not considered, such as, UV radiation, absolute humidity, air quality and wind.

We report 3 cases of influenza C virus in children hospitalized with severe acute respiratory infection in Cameroon. Two of these case-patients had grave clinical manifestations, but all 3 recovered. The lack of specific antiviral drugs for influenza C virus highlights the need to identify and describe cases involving this virus.

Introduction: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the most prevalent cause of acute hepatitis in humans worldwide. The risk of HEV transmission is not limited only to spread from human to human but the infection can also spread from animals to humans, especially from the domestic pigs. Despite mounting evidence regarding the zoonotic potential of porcine HEV infection, there are limited data on its prevalence in pigs in the sub-Sahara Africa region. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HEV antibodies among pigs in two Cameroonian regions. Methodology: A total of 162 sera were collected from slaughtered-age pigs from January to March 2012. To determine whether pigs might represent a HEV reservoir in the Northern and Western region in Cameroon, anti-HEV IgG and IgM were tested by ELISA using commercials available kits. Results: Overall, 70 of the 162 samples (43.2%, 95% CI: 35.5% - 51.2%) were positive for at least one of the serological markers of HEV infection (IgM and / or IgG).We observed a significant seroprevalence of HEV antibodies between the northern and western regions (60% (42/70) and 40% (28/70), p = 0.01796) respectively. Conclusion: Overall, this study reports a high seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus antibodies in slaughter pigs in Cameroon. Our findings suggest that pigs might be a cause of zoonotic HEV transmission in Cameroon. Therefore, further studies are warranted to establish the dynamics of zoonotic HEV and characterize the different genotypes circulating in humans and pigs.

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Background: Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) are one leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people of all ages worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The purpose of this study was to determine epidemiological characteristics of respiratory viruses in ARI patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Methods: Patients were monitored for respiratory symptoms as part of surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viral infections. Patients of all ages with respiratory symptoms less than 5 days were considered. Sociodemographic and clinical data as well as nasopharyngeal samples was collected from patients. Nasopharyngeal samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction methods. Virus distribution and demographic data were analyzed with R version 2.15.1. Results: From July 2020 to October 2021, 1120 patients were included. The overall viral detection rate was 32.5%, including 9.5 % for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), 12.6 % for influenza virus and 12.8 % for SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). Co-infections were detected in 6.9% of positive cases. While RSV and influenza virus showed seasonal trends, SARS-CoV-2 was detected throughout the study period. Conclusion: We found that during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, respiratory viruses play an important role in aetiology of influenza-like illness in Cameroon, and this observation was true for patients of all ages.

Introduction: This study compares the detection of 14 common respiratory viruses by two different real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) methods: in house singleplex tests developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the commercially available Fast Track Diagnostic (FTD®) Respiratory Pathogens 33 multiplex test. Methods: A total of 217 nasopharyngeal swabs were analyzed using CDC singleplex rRT-PCR and FTD® Respiratory Pathogens 33 multiplex assays, for the detection of 14 respiratory viruses. Results: The results showed that 179/217 (82.5%) samples were positive with the singleplex method and 183/217 (84.3%) with the FTD® Respiratory Pathogens 33 multiplex test. Excellent or satisfactory agreement was obtained for all viruses (k N 0.6) except Parainfluenzavirus 4 (k = 0.24) and influenza B (k = 0.51). Conclusion: Although the multiplex FTD kits were more expensive than the singleplex assay, the FTD kits yielded rapid results in a shorter timeframe, increasing efficiency of diagnosis.