Investment in SARS-CoV-2 sequencing in Africa over the past year has led to a major increase in the number of sequences generated, now exceeding 100,000 genomes, used to track the pandemic on the continent. Our results show an increase in the number of African countries able to sequence domestically, and highlight that local sequencing enables faster turnaround time and more regular routine surveillance. Despite limitations of low testing proportions, findings from this genomic surveillance study underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic and shed light on the distinct dispersal dynamics of Variants of Concern, particularly Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron, on the continent. Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve, while the continent faces many emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century.
Background: The epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), presents a significant and urgent threat to global health. This alarming viral infection, declared as pandemic by the WHO in February 2020, has resulted millions of infected patients and thousands of deaths around the world. In Morocco, despite the efforts made by the authorities, the SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread and constitutes a burden of morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to describe clinical characteristics of COVID-19 Moroccan patients and to establish the relationship between specific clinical symptoms, namely ageusia and/or anosmia, with these characteristics. Methods: We performed a descriptive, non-interventional cross-sectional study analyzing data from 108 patients admitted to the VINCI clinic, Casablanca (Morocco). The database includes 39 parameters including epidemiological characteristics, anthropometric measurements and biological analyzes. Results: The average of age of the patients was 43.80 ± 15.75 years with a sex ratio of 1:1. The mean body mass index of the patients was 25.54 ± 4.63 Kg/m 2. The majority of patients had, at least, one comorbidity and among 75% symptomatic patients, about 50% had, at least, three symptoms namely, fever (40.7%), cough (39.8%), myalgia (28.7%), and anosmia and/or ageusia (20.4%). From biological analyzes, we noticed lymphopenia and an elevated protein C reactive and lactate dehydrogenases levels in 24.1, 36.1, and 35.2% of patients, respectively. A disturbance in liver function markers
Background Elucidation of specific and recurrent/founder pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA (BRCA1 and BRCA2) genes can make the genetic testing, for breast cancer (BC) and/or ovarian cancer (OC), affordable for developing nations. Methods To establish the knowledge about BRCA PVs and to determine the prevalence of the specific and recurrent/founder variants in BRCA genes in BC and/or OC women in North Africa, a systematic review was conducted in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Results Search of the databases yielded 25 relevant references, including eleven studies in Morocco, five in Algeria, and nine in Tunisia. Overall, 15 studies investigated both BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, four studies examined the entire coding region of the BRCA1 gene, and six studies in which the analysis was limited to a few BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 exons. Overall, 76 PVs (44 in BRCA1 and32 in BRCA2) were identified in 196 BC and/or OC patients (129 BRCA1 and 67 BRCA2 carriers). Eighteen of the 76 (23.7%) PVs [10/44 (22.7%) in BRCA1 and 8/32 (25%) in BRCA2] were reported for the first time and considered to be novel PVs. Among those identified as unlikely to be of North African origin, the BRCA1 c.68_69del and BRCA1 c.5266dupC Jewish founder alleles and PVs that have been reported as recurrent/founder variants in European populations (ex: BRCA1 c.181T>G, BRCA1 c1016dupA). The most well characterized PVs are four in BRCA1 gene [c.211dupA (14.7%), c.798_799detTT (14%), c.5266dup (8.5%), c.5309G>T (7.8%), c.3279delC (4.7%)] and one in BRCA2 [c.1310_1313detAAGA (38.9%)]. The c.211dupA and c.5309G>T PVs were identified as specific founder variants in Tunisia and Morocco, accounting for 35.2% (19/54) and 20.4% (10/49) of total established BRCA1 PVs, respectively. c.798_799delTT variant was identified in 14% (18/129) of all BRCA1 North African carriers, suggesting a founder allele. A broad spectrum of recurrent variants including BRCA1 3279delC, BRCA1 c.5266dup and BRCA2 c.1310_1313detAAGA was detected in 42 patients. BRCA1 founder variants explain around 36.4% (47/129) of BC and outnumber BRCA2 founder variants by a ratio of ≈3:1. Conclusions Testing BC and/or OC patients for the panel of specific and recurrent/founder PVs might be the most cost-effective molecular diagnosis strategy.
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