ABSTRACT
The 21st International Conference on HIV/AIDS and STI's in Africa (ICASA) was successfully held from the 6th to 11t h December 2021 in Durban, South Africa. Little did we know at the time of planning that COVID-19 could become such a formidable force in eroding the progress made to bring lifesaving therapies among vulnerable communities in Africa. The conference also highlighted Africa's openness to the world, also shown in the way South Africa shared data on its discovery of the Omicron variant. Arguably the most important of lessons is that integrated HIV/TB services have become a platform on which to provide other services. We also saw how HIV and TB services were used as leverage for COVID-19 services. Much was also discussed about the need to adopt more self-care approaches, as was demonstrated with the increased use of self-testing technologies for HIV, and potentially other health needs. It's clear that Africa needs to increase its capacity to support and enable innovation, particularly in the design and manufacturing of new technologies including diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , HIV Infections , HIV Infections/epidemiology , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , South AfricaABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: the COVID-19 pandemic causes biological diagnostic problems that remain relevant in low-income countries in general and in Cameroon in particular. Rapids tests that reliably detect SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen present themselves as an important alternative in several contexts. The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of two rapid diagnostic tests BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS and BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS, compared to each other and to the AmpliQuick® SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. METHODS: a cross-sectional and comparative study was carried out from April 27 to May 29, 2021 in the city of Douala in Cameroon. The samples consisted of nasopharyngeal swabs received at the molecular biology laboratory of the Douala Gyneco-obstetric and pediatric hospital, whatever their origin. The socio-demographic parameters (age, profession, football players, travelers, others), marital status, nationality), comorbidity and known status of COVID-19, were recorded on the collection sites. The main collection sites were the Deïdo Health District and the Douala Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. We performed the diagnosis of COVID-19 using the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS and RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS compared to each other and to the AmpliQuick® SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on each sample. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 17 software. To determine the sensitivity of the two RDTs, the Bayesian latent class model was performed on the median with a 95% confidence interval with p<0.05 as the significant level. An ethical clearance was sought and obtained from the University of Douala Institutional Ethics Committee. RESULTS: a total of 1813 participants were included in our study, with a predominance of men (1226, 68.68 %) and the most represented age group was that of 31 to 40 years (568, 31.33 %). Most of the participants were married (888, 53.46%) and only a few had a known COVID-19 status (75, 5.47%). The two rapid tests on our study population show much closed COVID-19 prevalence values, respectively 2.03 for BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS and 2.17 for BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS. RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS showed higher sensitivity 94.1% vs. 87.5% for RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS with almost identical specificity 98.9% for RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS vs. 98.7% for RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS compared to AmpliQuick® SARS-CoV-2. BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS RDT showed a negative predictive value of 99.9% compared to BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS RDT. There is a 99.9% agreement between the RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS and the RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag + BSS. Conclusion: the RDT BIOSYNEX®COVID-19 Ag + BSS and RDT BIOSYNEX® COVID-19 Ag BSS can be used for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and can have an important contribution in the context of mass screenings and screening in remote areas.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Viral/analysis , COVID-19 Testing/methods , COVID-19/diagnosis , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Cameroon , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Predictive Value of Tests , SARS-CoV-2 , Sensitivity and Specificity , Young AdultABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 equation in Cameroon is yet to be resolved. There is an urgent need for a rapid response strategy to the increasing demand of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results for both patients, travelers and competitors to various games. We assessed the diagnostic performance of the AmpliQuick® SARS-CoV-2 against the classic Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). METHODS: a cross-sectional and comparative study was conducted from April 27th to May 29th, 2021 in the city of Douala, Cameroon. The samples consisted of any nasopharyngeal sample received at the Douala Gynaeco-Obstetrics and Pediatric Hospital molecular biology laboratory, regardless of its origin. Sociodemographic parameters (age, profession (footballers, travelers, other), matrimonial status, nationality), comorbidity and known status of COVID-19, were recorded at collection sites. The main collection sites were the Deido Health District and the Douala Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. We performed testing using AmpliQuick® SARS-CoV-2 and the classic RT-PCR (Da An Gene Co.Ltd) on each sample during the one month period. Analytical performance parameters were determined. To determine the sensitivity of both methods, the Bayesian latent class model was performed on the median with 95% confidence interval, with p≤0.05 as significant level, as well as Kappa (κ) agreement between tests. An ethical clearance was sought and obtained from the University of Douala Institutional Ethics Committee. RESULTS: a total of 1813 participants were enrolled, with the predominance of male (68.68%) and the age group 31 to 40 years old (31.33%). Most participants were married (53.46%) with only few with known COVID-19 status (5.47%). One thousand eight hundred and ten (1810) tests were performed by AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 while only 1107 could be achieved with the classic RT-PCR. Over the study period, it was noted a drastic reduction in the time necessary to render results with the AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 from 24 hours to 3 hours. The AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 reduced technician hands-on time and its practicability was noticed based on the prefilled and ready-to-use microplates. A prevalence of 1.93% and 1.45% were obtained for AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 and the classic RT-PCR respectively. This difference in the prevalence showed that AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 (Sensitivity 83.5% [CI=64.6-95.2]) was more accurate than the classic RT-PCR (67.8% [CI=46.6-84.9]). CONCLUSION: it is time for a change of attitude to scale up the COVID-19 testing ability in Cameroon and the AMPLIQUICK® SARS-CoV-2 is an alternative diagnosis strategy which should help resolve the situation of timely and reliable results.