Impact of COVID-19 on Biological Diagnosis of Malaria: Case of the Thierno Mouhamadoul Mansour Barro Hospital in Mbour, Senegal

Background: In Africa, malaria-endemic regions have not been spared from COVID-19 outbreak which emerged in the first quarter of 2020. This pandemic has shown clinical and therapeutic similarities with malaria. This following study sought to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the malaria diagnosis. Method: A review of laboratory registers and an exploitation of the District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) to collect information on the diagnosis of malaria by microscopy and by rapid diagnostic test (RDT), but also that of COVID-19 was done from 2017 to 2021 at the Thierno Mouhamadoul Mansour Hospital in Mbour, Senegal. Results: In 2017, 199 Thick drops (TDs) and 1852 RDTs were performed for malaria diagnosis. In 2018, it was 2352 malaria tests with 2138 RDTs and 214 TDs, before reaching a peak of 3943 tests in 2019 including 3742 RDTs and 201 TDs. By 2020, 2263 tests were performed with 2097 malaria RDTs, 158 TDs and 8 COVID RDTs. The latter increased significantly in 2021, reaching 444 COVID RDTs, while TDs and malaria RDT kept decreasing to 147 and 1036 respectively. Positive TDs were higher in 2020 (11.4%) compared to 2017 (3.5%), 2018 (1.4%), 2019 (6.5%) and 2021 (6.8%). For malaria RDTs, a decrease in the number of positive tests was noted between 2017 (4.5%) and 2021 (1.3%). The COVID RDTs were all negative in 2020, 29.5% were positive and 4.1% were undetermined in 2021. Conclusion: COVID-19 has led to changes in efforts to diagnose malaria as well as an increase in malaria prevalence directed towards children under 5 years of age.

Hematobiological Profile of Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia at the Diagnosis in Yaoundé: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative blood neoplasia, characterized by the presence of a translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 leading to the formation of the Philadelphia chromosome. Data on the biological profile of patients with CML at diagnosis are still lacking in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Cameroon. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2001 to July 2016 among patients recently diagnosed with CML at the Yaounde University Teaching Hospital, the Yaoundé Central Hospital and the Yaoundé General Hospital. Analyzed variables included socio-demographic, clinical presentation, the diagnosis means, biological parameters (hematological and biochemical). Sampling was consecutive. Results: We included 132 (76 males) patients with CML with a median age of 39.2 years at diagnosis. The 31 - 45 years age group was the most represented, with 40.9% of the study population. A risk factor was found in only 5 (3.8%) of patients. Clinical manifestations were recorded in only 27 (20.45%) patients, with fatigue being the commonest (10.6%). Almost all patients (128, 96.9%) have performed the karyotype while 22 (16.7%) have performed fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and 4 (3.0%) the PCR. At diagnosis, 66% of the patients were in the chronic phase (CP), 11.3% in accelerated phase (AP), and 22.7% in blast crisis (BC). All patients presented hyperleukocytosis, with a white blood cell mean of 128,362/mm3. Anemia was common (77.3%), usually moderate (61.4%). Thrombocytopenia was rare (8.3%), as far as basophilia (1.2%). Among those patients, mean values of creatinine, Glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and glycemia were normal while activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), plasma uric acid level, gamma glutamic transferase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and inflammatory parameters (ESR and CRP) were increased. Conclusion: Patients with CML presented at their diagnosis hyperleukocytosis and anemia as hematological clues. Other biological anomalies include increased signs of cellular destruction (plasma uric acid level, LDH), coagulation perturbation and inflammatory syndrome. The chronic phase of the disease was common.