Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections at the 2017 Grand Magal de Touba, Senegal: A prospective cohort survey

Abstract

Background: The Grand Magal of Touba is the largest Muslim pilgrimage in Senegal with a potential for infectious disease transmission. Methods: Clinical follow-up, adherence to preventive measures and qPCR-based respiratory and gastrointestinal pathogens carriage pre-and post-Magal, were assessed. Results: 110 pilgrims from South Senegal were included. The duration of stay in Touba was 3 days. 41.8% and 14.5% pilgrims reported respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms. Most individuals having the onset of symptoms during their stay in Touba, or soon after returning. The acquisition of rhinoviruses, coronaviruses and adenovirus was 13.0, 16.7 and 4.6% respectively and that of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae was 3.7% and 26.9%.Acquisition of gastrointestinal viruses and parasites was low, while bacterial acquisition ranged from 2.2% for Campylobacter jejuni to 33.0% for enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. Conclusion: This preliminary study confirms that Grand Magal pilgrims are likely to be exposed to communicable disease risk as observed in other pilgrimage settings. Further study including larger numbers of pilgrims are needed to investigate potential risk factors for respiratory and gastrointestinal infections at the Grand Magal.

Clusters of COVID-19 associated with Purim celebration in the Jewish community in Marseille, France, March 2020

“…It is well-known that mass gatherings are seeding events to spread outbreaks of communicable diseases (Hoang et al, 2019;Sokhna et al, 2017;Sow et al, 2018).…”

Temporal and age distributions of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses, southeastern France

“…We analyzed all available diagnoses of respiratory viruses including SARS-CoV-2 performed between September 2013 and May 2020 at the clinical microbiology and virology laboratory of University Hospital Institute Méditerranée Infection ( https://www.mediterranee-infection.com/ ) and University hospitals of Marseille, the second largest French city, Southeastern France. Testing of respiratory samples were performed using the FTD Respiratory pathogens 21 (Fast Track Diagnosis, Luxembourg), the Biofire FilmArray Respiratory panel 2 plus (Biomérieux, Marcy-l'Etoile, France), the Respiratory Multi Well System r-gene (Argene, BioMérieux), or the GeneXpert Xpert Flu/RSV (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA) assays, or by one-step simplex real-time quantitative RT-PCR amplifications as previously reported ( Hoang et al, 2019 ). Diagnosis by reverse transcription-PCR of SARS-CoV-2 infection was performed as previously described ( Amrane et al, 2020 ).…”

The 2020 Grand Magal of Touba, Senegal in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Syndromic surveillance studies conducted on Grand Magal pilgrims over recent years have demonstrated that respiratory tract infections are among the most frequent causes of consultations at health care structures during the event [ 1 ]. A prospective cohort study showed that the prevalence of respiratory tract infection symptoms was 42% among pilgrims with a 5-fold increase following the participation to the Grand Magal [ 2 ]. Common coronaviruses were the most frequently acquired respiratory viruses [ 2 ].…”

“…A prospective cohort study showed that the prevalence of respiratory tract infection symptoms was 42% among pilgrims with a 5-fold increase following the participation to the Grand Magal [ 2 ]. Common coronaviruses were the most frequently acquired respiratory viruses [ 2 ]. The occurrence of a dengue outbreak in Touba during the 2018 Grand Magal raised the risk for further spread to other regions in Senegal through viremic Mourid pilgrims returning to their place of residence where Aedes mosquitoes are present [3] .…”