Publications

Chosen filters:
Chosen filters:

1 - 10 of 12181 results

Sorteren op
Search term:

Seawalls as a response to coastal erosion and flooding: a case study from Grande Comore, Comoros (West Indian Ocean) University of Antwerp

Carola Betzold, Jésus Ibrahim Mohamed
Many coasts are eroding. In the Comoros, as in many other small island developing states (SIDS), communities frequently respond to coastal erosion by building seawallsyet seawalls and other coastal defence structure are controversial, especially in a SIDS context, where they typically are poorly designed and constructed and thus tend to increase rather decrease erosion and are often unable to prevent flooding. Through an exploratory qualitative ...

Investigating drug resistance of Mycobacterium leprae in the Comoros University of Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine

Sofie Braet, Agathe Jouet, Alexandra Aubry, Magalie Van Dyck-Lippens, Esteban Lenoir, Younoussa Assoumani, Abdallah Baco, Aboubacar Mzembaba, Emmanuelle Cambau, Sidra Ezidio Goncalves Vasconcellos, et al.
Background Despite strong leprosy control measures, including effective treatment, leprosy persists in the Comoros. As of May, 2022, no resistance to anti-leprosy drugs had been reported, but there are no nationally representative data. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with rifampicin is offered to contacts of patients with leprosy. We aimed to conduct a countrywide drug resistance survey and investigate whether PEP led to the emergence of drug ...

Clustering of leprosy beyond the household level in a highly endemic setting on the Comoros, an observational study Institute of Tropical Medicine

Nimer Ortuno-Gutierrez, Abdallah Baco, Sofie Braet, Assoumani Younoussa, Aboubacar Mzembaba, Zahara Salim, Mohamed Amidy, Saverio Grillone, Bouke de Jong, Jan Hendrik Richardus, et al.

Background

The island of Anjouan (Comoros) is highly endemic for leprosy with an annual incidence of 5-10/10,000. In May/June, 2015 single-dose Rifampicin post-exposure prophylaxis (SDR-PEP) was administered to 269 close contacts of 70 leprosy-patients in four villages as a pilot programmatic intervention. Two years later we revisited the villages for follow-up investigations. The main aim of our study was to quantify spatial ...

Ticks are unlikely to play a role in leprosy transmission in the Comoros (East Africa) as they do not harbour M. leprae DNA University of Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine

Lena Krausser, Elien Chauvaux, Magalie Van Dyck-Lippens, Amina Yssouf, Younoussa Assoumani, Pablo Tortosa, Bouke Catherine de Jong, Sofie Braet
Introduction: Leprosy, one of the oldest known human diseases, continues to pose a global challenge for disease control due to an incomplete understanding of its transmission pathways. Ticks have been proposed as a potential contributor in leprosy transmission due to their importance as vectors for other infectious diseases. Methods: In 2010, a sampling of ticks residing on cattle was conducted on the islands Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli ...

Protocol, rationale and design of PEOPLE (Post ExpOsure Prophylaxis for LEprosy in the Comoros and Madagascar): a cluster randomized trial on effectiveness of different modalities of implementation of post-exposure prophylaxis of leprosy contacts Institute of Tropical Medicine

Nimer Ortuno Gutierrez, Assoumani Younoussa, Andriamira Randrianantoandro, Sofie Braet, Bertrand Cauchoix, Stéphanie Ramboarina, Abdallah Baco, Aboubacar Mzembaba, Zahara Salim, Mohamed Amidy, et al.

Background: Leprosy is an ancient infectious disease with a global annual incidence that has plateaued above 200,000 new cases since over a decade. New strategies are required to overcome this stalemate. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with a single dose of Rifampicin (SDR) has conditionally been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), based on a randomized-controlled-trial in Bangladesh. More evidence is required. The Post ...

Minimally invasive sampling to identify leprosy patients with a high bacterial burden in the Union of the Comoros University of Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine

Sofie Marijke Braet, Anouk Van Hooij, Epco Hasker, Erik Fransen, Abdou Wirdane, Abdallah Baco, Saverio Grillone, Nimer Ortuno-Gutierrez, Younoussa Assoumani, Aboubacar Mzembaba, et al.
Author summary Leprosy is the oldest infectious disease known to humankind. We still do not succeed in curbing its transmission, with more than 200,000 new patients detected worldwide each year. Identifying persons with a high burden of bacteria is key to curb transmission. To identify these persons, bacteria are counted in invasive and painful samples like slit skin smears and skin biopsies. We evaluated whether we can use less invasive ...

Exploring clustering of leprosy in the Comoros and Madagascar: a geospatial analysis Institute of Tropical Medicine

Nimer Ortuno Gutierrez, Aboubacar Mzembaba, Stephanie Ramboarina, Randrianantoandro Andriamira, Abdallah Baco, Sofie Braet, Assoumani Younoussa, Bertrand Cauchoix, Zahara Salim, Mohamed Amidy, et al.

Objectives: To identify patterns of spatial clustering of leprosy. Design: We performed a baseline survey for a trial on post-exposure prophylaxis for leprosy in Comoros and Madagascar. We screened 64 villages, door-to-door, and recorded results of screening, demographic data and geographic coordinates. To identify clusters, we fitted a purely spatial Poisson model using Kulldorff's spatial scan statistic. We used a regular Poisson model to ...