In Burundi (1990 population: 5.7 million), located in central-east Africa, seasonal epidemics of dysentery caused by Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (Sd1) have been documented each year since 1980.
The seeds and roots of Heliotropium lasocarpium, contain a pyrrolizidine alkaloid which causes toxic liver injury and veno-occlusive disease (VOD), characterised by an occlusive lesion of the centrolobular veins of the liver, when consumed by humans.
Since 1988, the french non-governmental organisation Médecins Sans Frontières is running a control program of human african trypanosomiasis in the district of Moyo, North-Uganda.
A new outbreak of trichinellosis occurred in France in December 1993 and involved around 550 patients. The authors report here how recent knowledge on Trichinella have been helpful to investigate this outbreak.
A double-blind controlled trial was undertaken from August 1990 to February 1991 among Karen children on the Thai-Burmese border to evaluate the effects on malaria incidence and prevalence of permethrin-treated bed nets.
The safety and immunogenicity of vaccines are demonstrated before they are made available to doctors and the public. However, the protective activity against the disease for which a vaccine was designed can only be accurately measured in field trials.
Meningococcal meningitis epidemics are a major health problem in sub-saharan Africa where they account for thousands of deaths and cause morbidity in hundreds of thousands of people. Meningitis is caused by Neisseria meningitidis.
