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.

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Introduction: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are one of the most frequently reported hospital acquired infections associated with significant spread of antibiotic resistance. Purpose: We aimed to evaluate a bundle-based approach in reducing SSI at acute surgical intensive care unit of the Emergency Hospital of Cairo University. Patients and Methods: Our prospective study ran from March 2018 to February 2019 and used risk assessment. The study was divided into three phases. Phase I: (pre-bundle phase) for 5 months; data collection, active surveillance of the SSIs, screening for OXA-48 producing Enterobacteriaceae and multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii colonizers using Chrom agars were carried out. Phase II: (bundle-implementation) a 6-S bundle approach included education, training and postoperative bathing with Chlorhexidine Gluconate in collaboration with the infection control team. Finally, Phase III: (post-implementation) for estimation of compliance, rates of colonization, and infection. Results: Phase I encompassed 177 patients, while Phase III included 93 patients. A significant reduction of colonization from 24% to 15% (p<0.001) was observed. Similarly, a decrease of SSI from 27% to 15% (p=0.02) was noticed. A logistic regression was performed to adjust for confounding in the implementation of the bundle and we found a 70% reduction of SSI odd's ratio (OR's ratio = 0.3) confidence interval (95% CI 0.14-0.6) with significant Apache II (p=0.04), type of wound; type II (p=0.002), type III (p=0.001) and duration of surgery (p=0.04) as independent risk factors for SSI. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most prevalent organism during phase I (34.7%). On the other hand, A. baumannii was the commonest organism to be isolated during phase III with (38.5%) preceding K. pneumoniae (30%). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the implementation of a multidisciplinary bundle containing evidence-based interventions was associated with a significant reduction of colonization and SSIs and was met with staff approval and acceptable compliance.

BACKGROUND:Surgical site infection is one of the major health-care-associated problems causing substantial morbidity and mortality and constituting a financial burden on hospitals as well. The wound management is one of the crucial evidence-based strategies in the reduction of surgical site infection ratesAIM:To study the impact of standardisation of transparent semipermeable dressing procedure on the rate of surgical site infection in comparison with conventional dressing in clean and clean-contaminated surgeries.METHODS:The study included 100 patients who were admitted to surgical wards in Cairo university hospitals, for clean and clean-contaminated operations, in the period from February 2017 to August 2017. Immunocompromised and uncontrolled diabetic patients were excluded. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups; in the first group, patients wounds were covered using transparent semipermeable dressing, while the second group patients’ wounds were covered using conventional occlusive gauze dressing. Patients were followed up for criteria of infection every other day during the first week then at two weeks, three weeks and four weeks.RESULTS:In clean and clean-contaminated operations, the transparent dressing group showed a significantly lesser rate of surgical site infection at (2%), compared with the conventional occlusive gauze dressing group with a surgical site infection rate of (14%) (p-value of 0.02).CONCLUSION:The transparent semipermeable dressing is effective in reducing surgical site infection rate in clean and clean-contaminated operations.