[Co-infections of leishmania/HIV in south Europe]. / Co-infections à Leishmania/VIH dans le sud de l'Europe.

The Leishmania/HIV co-infection has emerged as a result of the increasing overlap between leishmaniasis (mainly visceral, more rarely cutaneous) and AIDS, which is due to the spread of the AIDS pandemic to rural areas and that of visceral leishmaniasis to suburban areas. Cases of co-infection have so far been reported from 33 countries around the world, most of the cases have been notified in south-western Europe. 1,627 cases have been notified from Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. While Leishmania/HIV co-infection is increasing in eastern Africa, cases of co-infection are expected to diminish in South-western Europe due to the new highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). In 1998, a world wide WHO/UNAIDS surveillance network was established, which now includes 28 member institutions. In south-western Europe, the surveillance system based on 16 institutions is now well established. The systematic use of standardized and recently computerized case-report forms, the central international registry at WHO headquarters, and finally the use of a geographic information system (GIS) for mapping and monitoring co-infections have improved the overall quality of epidemiological data gathering. All member institutions of the network report to WHO on an annual basis. World wide information is analysed and periodically disseminated through international publications. The GIS integrates epidemiological and demographic data sets and allows for the mapping of co-infection cases down to locality level. The system can be used to easily visualise and analyse the spatial distribution of co-infection cases and to permit monitoring of the evolution of the distribution of the cases over time. The risk of co-infected patients, as carriers of Leishmania in the blood, to be a source of infection for the sandfly, has been recently confirmed. Moreover intravenous drug users also transmit the disease through the sharing of needles.

[Endemic dracunculiasis in new villages: re-emergence of the disease or failure of the surveillance system]. / Les nouveaux villages d'endémie de la dracunculose: réémergence de la maladie ou dysfonctionnement du système de surveillance.

According to data sent to Bamako in March 1998 for the annual review of National Programs for the Eradication of the Guinea Worm (NPEGV), dracunculiasis was observed in 211 villages in Burkina Faso in 1997. Of this total, 110 (52 p. 100) were new villages not previously reporting dracunculiasis. A study focusing on these new villages was carried out in June 1998. The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality of the disease monitoring system and determine if endemicity was spreading to new villages. A twofold method was used first to analyze the data used in the geographic information section of the disease monitoring system and second to test the validity of this data in field surveys. Findings showed the actual number of new villages showing endemicity could be reduced from 46 p. 100 to 12 p. 100 since 67 p. 100 of the new villages had in fact previously reported endemicity but had been wrongly eliminated from monitoring records. This probably long-standing problem has been uncovered with a decrease in the number of villages showing endemicity and an increase in prevention activities. In addition this study identified several confounding factors and defects in disease monitoring and data reporting techniques. Based on this study, several recommendations were made to improve the quality of the disease monitoring system.

[Update on the dracunculosis eradication program]. / Situation actuelle de la campagne d'éradication de la dracunculose.

Dracunculiasis has been described since antiquity and will be forever associated with the image of the method of extraction consisting of winding a few centimeters of the worm around a stick every day. For nearly ten years a worldwide effort to eradicate this infection has been under way. Achieving this apparently simple goal is hindered by the difficulties in accessing infected areas and by the dire poverty in the regions involved which include the "poorest of the poor". Spectacular results have been accomplished in Pakistan thanks to the concerted efforts of political, financial, and technical officials from a number of national and international organization. While the rate of infestation has decreased by 90% worldwide, the final push to complete eradication is the most difficult and, as in India and Mali, is being oriented towards a strategy involving an integrated approach. Results are slow and gradual but notable and durable progress has been made in terms of village water supply. It is necessary that intervention in these areas be associated with other poverty-fighting programs. Successful eradication without accompanying improvements would be a technical victory but in terms of public health and welfare such a victory would correspond to an unjustifiably missed opportunity.

Dracunculiasis in Burkina Faso: results of a national survey.

National surveys using active reporting are essential steps in the global dracunculiasis eradication programme. All the known villages of Burkina Faso were visited at the end of 1990 by teams of field-workers who organized meetings with local informants in order to enquire about all cases of the emergence of Guinea worms during the past twelve months. The annual incidence for 1990 was then calculated using recent demographic data. Data collected were validated by a second survey of a random sample of 221 villages. The national coverage rate was 99.3% of villages; 42,227 cases were reported. The annual incidence for 1990 was 46.4 cases per 10,000. There was a pronounced heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of endemic foci, with a concentration of cases in the north and centre of the country. In Burkina Faso, dracunculiasis has a heterogeneous distribution with a pronounced concentration of cases in the North and Centre that reach mesoendemic incidence rates.