Comparative Study of the Widal Test against Stool Culture in the Diagnosis of Suspected Cases of Typhoid Fever in Some Low Income Communities in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon

Introduction: Infectious diseases constitute a major concern of public health in developing countries. Facilities and well trained staff have been shown to be one of the major obstacles in the rapid and quality diagnosis of these diseases. As such, we carried out an analysis to compare the Widal test and stool culture to identify febrile patients with Salmonella infection. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted to diagnose salmonella infection with out-patients who demonstrated signs of salmonella infection. Serum was harvested from blood collected from 368 (Vina = 234, Mayo Banyo 65, and Djerem = 69) patients accompanied by stool, Widal test was conducted on the spot and stool was taken to a reference laboratory for culture using standard microbiological methods, sociological set up was calculated in percentages, prevalence was calculated using excel while statistical difference was calculated using SPSS. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to compare the Widal test against stool culture. Results: A total of 368 (50.8% females and 49.2% males) participants took part in the survey. Salmonella prevalence (66.24%) in stool culture in the Vina division was significantly different (p 0.05). The sensitivity,specificity, PPV, and NPV of slide agglutination test against stool culture varied from different areas (Vina: 51.6%, 73.62%, 79.21% and 43.61%;Mayo Banyo: 60.53%, 77.78%, 79.31% and 58.33%;Djerem: 53.18%, 83.73% 73.91% and 67.39%) respectively. Slide agglutination test has a fair agreement with the stool culture (kappa, Vina = 0.202;Mayo Banyo = 0.37 and Djerem = 0.38). Conclusion: Generally, in the three areas of study, the Widal test had a fair correlation with the stool culture;This means the Widal test should not be used alone but in combination with stool culture in the detection of salmonella infections.

Typology of Local Construction Materials from the Adamawa and North-West Regions of Cameroon

This article summarizes the different local construction materials observed in two regions of Cameroon (Adamawa and North-West). These raw materials were mapped and evaluated using various methods of investigation (spatial distribution, estimation of reserves, development of a database compatible with geo-referenced maps). The results obtained show three types of local construction materials (vegetal, pedological and geological) with quantitative estimation or distribution. Vegetal local materials include herbaceous savanna with strong dominance of straw in Adamawa region than the North West region. Pedological local construction materials include lateritic soils (ferruginous or clayey), harplan, sandy clay and sandy clay soil while geological local construction materials include volcanic, plutonic and metamorphic rocks. Many sites of these geological materials are suitable for the rock quarry plant. Adamawa region also contains sedimentary rocks constituted by metamorphic conglomerate and sandstones. Two main types of residential homes are constructed with these local construction materials in these regions of Cameroon. These include huts and houses.

Petrology of Spinel-Lherzolite Xenoliths from Mazéléand Others Northen Xenoliths Localities of Cameroon Volcanic Line: Exchange Reactions and Equilibrium State

The alkaline volcanism of the Cameroon Volcanic Line in its northern domain has raised many fresh enclaves of peridotites. The samples selected come from five (05) different localities (Liri, in the plateau of Kapsiki, Mazélé in the NE of Ngaoundéré, Tello and Ganguiré in the SE of Ngaoundéré and Likok, locality located in the west of Ngaoundé). The peridotite enclaves of the above localities show restricted mineralogical variation. Most are four-phase spinel-lherzolites, indicating that this is the main lithology that forms the lithospheric mantle below the shallow zone. No traces of garnet or primary plagioclase were detected, which strongly limits the depth range from which the rock fragments were sampled. The textures and the wide equilibrium temperatures (884˚C - 1115˚C) indicate also entrainment of lherzolite xenoliths from shallow depths within the lithosphere and the presence of mantle diapirism. The exchange reactions and equilibrium state established in this work make it possible to characterize the chemical composition of the upper mantle of each region and test the equilibrium state of the phases between them. Variations of major oxides and incompatible elemental concentrations in clinopyroxene indicate a primary control by partial melting. The absence of typical “metasomatic” minerals, low equilibration temperatures and enriched LREE patterns indicate that the upper mantle below septentrional crust of Cameroun underwent an event of cryptic metasomatic enrichment prior to partial melting. The distinctive chemical features, LREE enrichment, strong U, Ce and Pr, depletion relative to Ba, Nb, La, Pb, and T, fractionation of Zr and Hf and therefore ligh high Zr/Hf ratio, low La/Yb, Nb/La and Ti/Eu are all results of interaction of refractory peridotite residues with carbonatite melts.

Characterization of Pan-African Aquifer Layers by the Least Squares Inversion Method Applied on Geoelectric Data

Geoelectric data obtained from forty (40) vertical electrical soundings collected with a Schlumberger device in the Adamawa plateau region, also known as the Cameroon water tower, have been treated by the least-squares inversion method. In order to study the nature and thickness of the aquifer and the necessary geoelectric parameters, quantitative and qualitative interpretations of the data were made. The results obtained showed that: about four to five geoelectric layers have been delimited in the study area with a dominance of the KH curve, which can be used as a reference for future studies. The first two layers constitute an association of clay and laterite with resistivity values ranging from 58 to 9122 Ω&middotm and whose thickness is between 0.6 and 13.4 m. The third layer is a potentially aquiferous laterite composed of clay, laterite and especially clay sand and cracked/good granite, with a dominance of sandy alteration whose resistivity values are between 81 and 960 Ω&middotm and its thickness between 12.2 and 26.8 m. The fourth and fifth layers are made up of cracked/good granite with a resistivity ranging from 12-10705 Ω&middotm with an average value of 1817 Ω&middotm. This study also shows that the North-East, South-West and South sectors could be the groundwater convergence zones and that the average depth of the basement aquifer roof is about 28.3 m. The geoelectric sections of certain demarcated vertical electrical sounding stations are consistent with the geologic description of the area.