The aim of this study is to review over a period of 5 years the clinical spectrum of rheumatic diseases seen in a tertiary hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. A retrospective study of case records was conducted from March 1, 2006 to March 30, 2011 in the Rheumatology service, Department of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo. Of the 4,084 patients seen, 2,381 were women (58.30%) and 1,703 were men (41.70%). The mean age at disease onset was 42.12 years, ranging from 3 to 92 years. Among the rheumatologic conditions, mechanical and degenerative disorders were the most common, found in 3,053 cases (74.76%). Among these cases, spinal pathology predominated, especially low back pain (19.93 %). The frequency of osteoarthritis was 19.70 % (804 cases) with a predominance of knee osteoarthritis (657 cases). Infectious pathology was dominated by osteoarticular tuberculosis (48 cases), particularly Pott's disease (43.68% of infectious diseases). Among the cases of inflammatory arthritides, rheumatoid arthritis was the leading cause (116 cases or 2.84%). It was followed by spondyloarthropathies in which arthritis related to HIV predominated (21 out of 81 cases). Metabolic diseases were mainly represented by the gout (162 cases or 3.96%) with male predominance. Comorbidities included high blood pressure (46.57%), diabetes mellitus (13.78%), hemoglobinopathies (9.66%), epigastric pain (7.25%), and peptic ulcer confirmed by endoscopy (6.75%). Rheumatology in Burkina Faso is booming. The profile of rheumatologic diseases in Burkina Faso, after 5 years of practice, confirms the diversity and importance of these conditions dominated by a degenerative pathology of the spine and limbs, including infectious diseases such as Pott's disease and the inflammatory and metabolic diseases.

No abstract

Since December 2019, the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) raises a real public health problem. COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan (Hubei province) in China. Drugs that have been used in rheumatology for decades seem to be effective in this infection and are for the most part being studied. The rational use of these anti-rheumatic drugs is based on the cytokinic storm (hyperproduction of IL1, IL6, TNF α) in the body by COVID-19 in its severe form. In this review, the authors make the difference between the infectious and auto-inflammatory part of COVID-19; the disease does not seem to be a risk factor for admission to the intensive care unit for patients suffering from inflammatory rheumatism; however, the poverty of studies on this subject should be noted. The authors also review anti-rheumatic drugs while studying COVID-19 treatment.

Objectives: To report an epidemiology study and prognosis for metastatic bone tumor. Methodology: It was a descriptive, transversal study on records of patients hospitalized in Rheumatology and Oncology-Radiotherapy departments of the University Teaching Hospital of Brazzaville, Congo from 1 January 2005 to 31 July 2011 (7 years and 6 months). The diagnosis of bone metastasis was made because of the existence of bone pain, or pathological fracture, or bone swelling and a bone-condensing or mixed or osteolytic radiological image. The anatomo-pathological evidence was made after biopsy of the bone lesion or primary cancer. 3687 patients were hospitalized for active cancer, among them 81 had documented bone metastasis. Results: There were 60 men (74.1%) and 21 women (25.9%) with a sex ratio of 2.85. The average age was 53 years, ranging from 3 to 80 years. 75% of patients were more or equal to 50 years old at the discovery of the bone metastasis. Bone pain was the main mode of discovery (67.9% of cases). However, in 6.2% of cases, it was discovered incidentally. The metastasis was bone condensing in 50.7% of cases, osteolytic in 40.7% and mixed in 8.6%. They were unifocal in 25.9% and multifocal in 74.1% of cases. The Primary cancer most frequently found was that of the prostate in 55.6% of cases, breast in 20.7% and rhabdomyosarcoma in 4.9%. In 6.2% of cases, the primary site of cancer was unknown. The average survival was 25 months. Conclusion: The clinical and radiological presentation remains classic. Cancer of the prostate and breast are the main neoplasia responsible for bone metastasis in our series. The discovery of metastasis remains a major evolutionary step of cancer.

ABSTRACT