When local phytotherapies meet biomedicine. Cross-sectional study of knowledge and intercultural practices against malaria in Eastern French Guiana.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: In French Guiana, traditional phytotherapies are an important part of self-healthcare, however, a precise understanding of the interactions between local phytotherapies and biomedicine is lacking. Malaria is still endemic in the transition area between French Guiana and Brazil, and practices of self-treatment, although difficult to detect, have possible consequences on the outcome of public health policies. AIM OF THE STUDY: The objectives of this research were 1) to document occurences of co-medication (interactions between biomedicine and local phytotherapies) against malaria around Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock (SGO), 2) to quantify and to qualify plant uses against malaria, 3) and to discuss potential effects of such co-medications, in order to improve synergy between community efforts and public health programs in SGO particularly, and in Amazonia more broadly. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 in SGO. Inhabitants of any age and nationality were interviewed using a questionnaire (122 questions) about their knowledge and habits regarding malaria, and their use of plants to prevent and treat it. They were invited to show their potential responses on a poster illustrating the most common antimalarial plants used in the area. In order to correlate plant uses and malaria epidemiology, all participants subsequently received a medical examination, and malaria detection was performed by Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). RESULTS: A total of 1566 inhabitants were included in the study. Forty-six percent of them declared that they had been infected by malaria at least once, and this rate increased with age. Every person who reported that they had had malaria also indicated that they had taken antimalarial drugs (at least for the last episode), and self-medication against malaria with pharmaceuticals was reported in 142 cases. A total of 550 plant users was recorded (35.1% of the interviewed population). Among them 95.5% associated pharmaceuticals to plants. All plants reported to treat malaria were shared by every cultural group around SGO, but three plants were primarily used by the Palikur: Cymbopogon citratus, Citrus aurantifolia and Siparuna guianensis. Two plants stand out among those used by Creoles: Eryngium foetidum and Quassia amara, although the latter is used by all groups and is by far the most cited plant by every cultural group. Cultivated species accounts for 91.3% of the use reports, while wild taxa account for only 18.4%. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that residents of SGO in French Guiana are relying on both traditional phytotherapies and pharmaceutical drugs to treat malaria. This medical pluralism is to be understood as a form of pragmatism: people are collecting or cultivating plants for medicinal purposes, which is probably more congruent with their respective cultures and highlights the wish for a certain independence of the care process. A better consideration of these practices is thus necessary to improve public health response to malaria.

Community-acquired pneumonia in the emergency department: an algorithm to facilitate diagnosis and guide chest CT scan indication.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to create and validate a community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) diagnostic algorithm to facilitate diagnosis and guide chest computed tomography (CT) scan indication in patients with CAP suspicion in Emergency Departments (ED). METHODS: We performed an analysis of CAP suspected patients enrolled in the ESCAPED study who had undergone chest CT scan and detection of respiratory pathogens through nasopharyngeal PCRs. An adjudication committee assigned the final CAP probability (reference standard). Variables associated with confirmed CAP were used to create weighted CAP diagnostic scores. We estimated the score values for which CT scans helped correctly identify CAP, therefore creating a CAP diagnosis algorithm. Algorithms were externally validated in an independent cohort of 200 patients consecutively admitted in a Swiss hospital for CAP suspicion. RESULTS: Among the 319 patients included, 51% (163/319) were classified as confirmed CAP and 49% (156/319) as excluded CAP. Cough (weight = 1), chest pain (1), fever (1), positive PCR (except for rhinovirus) (1), C-reactive protein ≥50 mg/L (2) and chest X-ray parenchymal infiltrate (2) were associated with CAP. Patients with a score below 3 had a low probability of CAP (17%, 14/84), whereas those above 5 had a high probability (88%, 51/58). The algorithm (score calculation + CT scan in patients with score between 3 and 5) showed sensitivity 73% (95% CI 66-80), specificity 89% (95% CI 83-94), positive predictive value (PPV) 88% (95% CI 81-93), negative predictive value (NPV) 76% (95% CI 69-82) and area under the curve (AUC) 0.81 (95% CI 0.77-0.85). The algorithm displayed similar performance in the validation cohort (sensitivity 88% (95% CI 81-92), specificity 72% (95% CI 60-81), PPV 86% (95% CI 79-91), NPV 75% (95% CI 63-84) and AUC 0.80 (95% CI 0.73-0.87). CONCLUSION: Our CAP diagnostic algorithm may help reduce CAP misdiagnosis and optimize the use of chest CT scan.

Knowledge, attitudes, practices about HIV and implications in risk and stigma prevention among French Guianese and Brazilian border inhabitants : Beliefs about HIV among border inhabitants.

BACKGROUND: The border area between French Guiana and Brazil is an active HIV-transmission zone. The aim of the present study was to describe HIV knowledge, risk and the level of stigma among inhabitants of this border area. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 621 inhabitants over 18 years of age in the border cities of Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock in French Guiana and Oiapoque in Brazil. It was conducted between October 2017 and February 2018. An anonymous standardized questionnaire was filled out by culturally-trained mediators, then analyzed using STATA 12. RESULTS: Almost half (45.9%) of the individuals had a low education level. Participants whose native language was Portuguese or French demonstrated better HIV knowledge than other populations, notably native Amerindian and creole-speaking people. HIV risk behavior was more frequent in men and in younger age groups. People with good HIV knowledge reported having performed more HIV tests in the last year than participants with poor knowledge. The stigma level was high and reported in 74.8% of respondents. CONCLUSIONS: These results illustrate the need for initiatives to improve HIV prevention among autochthonous populations on both sides of this border area. Cross-border collaboration on health policies could produce common key messages adapted to the education level and multi-linguistic populations who live in this area.

[Risk of Infection Following Implant of Artificial Penile Nodule, Bouglous or Dominos: A Case Report in French Guiana]. / Risques d'infection suite à l'implant de nodules péniens bouglous ou dominos : à propos d'un cas en Guyane française.

Implant of artificial penile nodule (APN) is a socio-cultural practice, linked to penitentiary environment in French Guiana. Physicians are often unfamiliar with its existence. Although serious complications remain low regarding the high prevalence of this practice, urgent cares could be required. Indeed, implant of nodule can have functional sequelae, and sometimes life-threatening consequences, especially if infection occurs and spreads. We have reported the case of a 23-year-old male who presented an infection of the penis after the implant of two APN. Removal of the nodules associated with oral antibiotics was needed. We also present CT-scan images of another patient, as an example of fortuitous discovery of these nodules. We finally discuss the various complications already described in literature.

Le port de nodules péniens artificiels (NPA) est fortement lié à la fréquentation du milieu carcéral en Guyane française. Cette pratique est peu connue des professionnels de santé. Bien que les complications restent peu fréquentes malgré la prévalence élevée de ces nodules dans certaines populations, elles peuvent nécessiter une prise en charge diagnostique et thérapeutique urgente. En effet, il existe des risques fonctionnels, mais également vitaux survenant dans les suites d'une complication notamment infectieuse. Nous rapportons ici le cas d'une infection de la verge suite à l'implant de deux NPA chez un patient de 23 ans, pour laquelle le retrait des nodules et une antibiothérapie orale ont été nécessaires. Preuve de la forte prévalence de cette pratique, nous illustrons à l'aide d'une iconographie radiologique originale le cas d'un autre patient chez qui ces nodules ont été fortuitement découverts. Enfin, nous discutons des différentes complications décrites dans la littérature.

Decreased antibiotic susceptibility of Enterobacteriaceae causing community-acquired urinary tract infections in French Amazonia.

OBJECTIVES: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) have rarely been studied in the Amazon region. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of bacteria causing UTIs in French Guiana. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a monocenter retrospective study of adults consulting at the emergency department of Cayenne Hospital in 2014 with a diagnosis of UTI. The bacterial species and resistance profile were described. RESULTS: Two-hundred-and-eighty-nine patients presenting with UTI were included: 82 (28.4%) presented with cystitis, 166 (57.4%) with pyelonephritis, and 41 (14.2%) with male UTI. E. coli was predominant (74.1%), and had decreased susceptibility to ampicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, fluoroquinolones, co-trimoxazole, and furans compared with data from metropolitan France. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) was isolated in 3.1% of E. coli and 31.6% of K. pneumoniae. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic susceptibility in UTI is lower than reported in metropolitan France without evidence for an excessive consumption of antibiotics.

Clinical characteristics and predictive score of dengue vs. chikungunya virus infections.

BACKGROUND: Chikungunya (CHIKV) and dengue viruses (DENV) are two arboviruses with epidemic potential and similar clinical presentations. The potential life-threatening risk associated with DENV justifies an immediate biological assessment and medical follow-up which may be delayed for CHIKV. OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical variables that would help differentiate patients infected with CHIKV or DENV, and then to compute a predictive score. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Retrospective case-control study comparing CHIKV-infected patients diagnosed by RT-PCR in 2014 with patients infected with DENV diagnosed by positive NS1 antigen test in 2013. Children aged<15 years and pregnant women were excluded. Clinical and biological variables were compared, and a multivariate analysis was performed. A clinical score was developed using the ß coefficients to differentiate the infections. RESULTS: Over the study period 168 patients infected with CHIKV were compared with 452 patients with DENV. The clinical variables independently associated with CHIKV was joint and back pain, and those associated with DENV were headache, muscle pain, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, and hemorrhagic signs. The clinical score had 98% sensitivity for DENV and a ROC curve of 0.96. CONCLUSION: These two infections have a similar clinical presentation but the use of the proposed clinical score during the acute phase of the disease would make it possible to identify cases of DENV during a CHIKV epidemic to suggest adequate patient management.

[Update on leptospirosis]. / Mise au point sur la leptospirose.

Leptospirosis is a worldwide spirochetal zoonosis whose global incidence is increasing and is probably underestimated. Leptospirosis has long been associated with occupational contact with animals (rats and cattle) and has become in developed countries a pathology more related to recreational activities with exposure to fresh water (canoeing, swimming, canyoning) and to an environment contaminated by urine from leptospires excretory rodents. Leptospirosis should be one of the differential diagnoses to be considered when returning from travel to tropical areas, particularly Southeast Asia, and particularly during the rainy season. The clinical symptoms, particularly in the initial phase, are not specific and can limit to a flu-like syndrome or "dengue-like" making diagnosis often difficult. It is then necessary to look carefully for clinical (muscle pain, cough, conjunctival involvement, jaundice) and biological arguments (thrombocytopenia, cholestasis, rhabdomyolysis, frank elevation of CRP) that will help to diagnose leptospirosis and lead to quick antibiotic therapy before the progression to a severe icterohaemorrhagic (Weil's disease) or respiratory form associated with significant mortality. Treatment is based on injectable beta-lactams in severe forms (mainly cephalosporins) and amoxicillin, doxycycline or azithromycin in non-severe forms. Some atypical or delayed forms of leptospirosis occurring in the late immune phase of the disease are to know. Rapid diagnostic tools are currently being studied to improve diagnosis in remote areas and facilitate access to early treatment.

Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum and vivax infection in the neighborhood of Blondin, Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock District, French Guiana.

Optimized elimination strategies are needed to control transmission of malaria. As part of an elimination campaign, active detection of asymptomatic Plasmodium carriers by highly sensitive methods is deemed necessary. Asymptomatic carriage leads to complex scientific, ethical, and operational issues regarding individual or collective detection and treatment. To address this issue, a crosssectional study was carried out in French Guiana to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium carriage during an inter-epidemic season in the whole population of a neighborhood of Saint-Georges-de-l'Oyapock, along the Brazilian border. Fifty-eight participants out of 63 residents were screened. The median age was 23.3 years (range: 2 months-72 years), with a male/female sex-ratio of 0.56. The majority of the participants (74%, N = 43/58) reported a history of malaria, 12% (N = 7/58) during the past 12 months. All rapid diagnostic tests for malaria were negative. Among the 58 participants, malaria prevalence detected by nested-PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was 3.6% (N = 2/56). Two asymptomatic carriers of Plasmodium were identified: one child with Plasmodium vivax and one adult with Plasmodium falciparum. These two carriers were treated and did not develop malaria within the eight months following the diagnosis. This study confirmed the presence of asymptomatic parasitaemias outside hyperendemic areas. However, the benefits of such an active detection and patient treatment to eliminate malaria in French Guiana need to be evaluated at a larger scale.

[Leptospirosis in French Guiana and the Guiana shield: Current knowledge in 2016]. / La leptospirose en Guyane française et sur le bouclier des Guyanes. État des connaissances en 2016.

Leptospirosis is a cosmopolitan zoonosis caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Whether the distribution is worldwide, the hot and humid climate of the tropics is particularly conducive to its expansion. In most French overseas departments and territories, leptospirosis is considered as a public health problem. In French Guiana, a French department located in the northeastern part of the Amazon rainforest, it is supposed to be rare. The objective of this review was to make an inventory of the knowledge on human and animal leptospirosis in French Guiana and neighboring countries. A comprehensive search was conducted through the indexed and informal medical literature in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Thus, respectively ten and four publications were identified on human and animal leptospirosis in French Guiana, published between 1940 and 1995 in the form of case reports or case series. The publications concerning this disease in the other countries of the Guiana Shield, eastern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazilian state of Amapá, also scarce or nonexistent. However recent data from the French National Centre of leptospirosis showed a recent and sudden increase in the number of cases in the department, probably partly due to the development of diagnostic tools such as Elisa IgM serology. It is likely that leptospirosis is a neglected disease in the region, due to the lack of diagnostic tools readily available, the lack of knowledge of the local clinicians on this disease and the existence of many other pathogens with similar clinical presentation such as malaria, arboviruses and Q fever and Amazonian toxoplasmosis. The establishment of more large-scale studies on animal and human leptospirosis is necessary and urgent to know the true burden of this disease in our region.

[Zika virus outbreak in Latin America: what are the challenges for French Guiana in April 2016?]. / Épidémie de virus Zika en Amérique latine : quels enjeux pour la Guyane française en avril 2016 ?

Started in 2015 in Brazil, an outbreak linked to a little known arbovirus, Zika virus spread throughout Latin America. This virus, considered until recently as responsible of only mild symptoms, made mention of previously unsuspected complications, with severe neurological manifestations in adults and malformations of the central nervous system, including microcephaly, in newborns of mother infected during the pregnancy. While the continent is more accustomed to the succession of arbovirus epidemics, suspected complications and the many unknowns keys of the latter arriving raise many public health issues. French Guiana, a French territory located in the north-east of the continent, combines both European level of resources and climate and issues specific to the Amazon region and Latin America. We discuss here the issues for 2016 Zika virus epidemic in our region, many of them are generalizable to neighboring countries.

Spontaneous ascitic fluid infection and bacteremia due to Yersinia pseudotuberculosis in a liver transplant patient.

We report herein a case of bacteremic ascitic fluid infection in a liver transplant patient caused by a strain of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis serogroup I that lost the yersiniabactin core. The patient's outcome was favorable after a combined therapy with a third-generation cephalosporin and gentamicin.

Viruses detected by systematic multiplex polymerase chain reaction in adults with suspected community-acquired pneumonia attending emergency departments in France.

UNLABELLED: Infectious agents associated with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are under-studied. This study attempted to identify viruses from the upper respiratory tract in adults visiting emergency departments for clinically suspected CAP. Adults with suspected CAP enrolled in the ESCAPED study (impact of computed tomography on CAP diagnosis) had prospective nasopharyngeal (NP) samples studied by multiplex PCR (targeting 15 viruses and four intracellular bacteria). An adjudication committee composed of infectious disease specialists, pneumologists and radiologists blinded to PCR results reviewed patient records, including computed tomography and day 28 follow up, to categorize final diagnostic probability of CAP as definite, probable, possible, or excluded. Among the 254 patients enrolled, 78 (31%) had positive PCR, which detected viruses in 72/254 (28%) and intracellular bacteria in 8 (3%) patients. PCR was positive in 44/125 (35%) patients with definite CAP and 21/83 (25%) patients with excluded CAP. The most frequent organisms were influenza A/B virus in 27 (11%), rhinovirus in 20 (8%), coronavirus in seven (3%), respiratory syncytial virus in seven (3%) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in eight (3%) of 254 patients. Proportion of rhinovirus was higher in patients with excluded CAP compared with other diagnostic categories (p = 0.01). No such difference was observed for influenza virus. Viruses seem common in adults attending emergency departments with suspected CAP. A concomitant clinical, radiological and biological analysis of the patient's chart can contribute to either confirm their role, or suggest upper respiratory tract infection or shedding. Their imputability and impact in early management of CAP deserve further studies. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT01574066.