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SARS-COV2 sero-epidemiological investigation mission in Bomassa, north of the Republic of Congo

As part of the “SARS-COV 2 sero-epidemiological investigation in the Republic of Congo”, a team from the Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale (FCRM) in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) went from May 19 to June 2, 2021 on a mission to collect samples from residents of Bomassa.

Bomassa is located in the heart of the equatorial forest, in the Nouabalé-Ndoki forest massif in the Sangha department, in north of the Republic of Congo, 972 km from Brazzaville by car, on the border with Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

This collection of samples was a logical continuation of the pilot phase of the study conducted by FCRM in Brazzaville from April to August 2020, conducted to demonstrate in several Brazzaville residents the presence of antibodies against SARS-COV2, without the presence of the virus, which testified to a past viral infection; this study allows to follow the progression of herd immunity against this virus.

Click here for more information: ENG news release , Communiqué de presse en français.

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ITAIL-COVID-19 Coordinator and Investigators speakers at the EDCTP 2-days webinar

A live webinar is planned on 18-19 March 2021, 13:00-17:00 CET, where Dr Mathieu Ndounga, Prof Francine Ntoumi and Dr Armel Landry Batchi-Bouyou will share experiences and study findings from ITAIL-COVID-19 together with all the others EDCTP-supported COVID-19 research consortia, discuss new emerging questions and current public health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa, and inform the global research community and stakeholders about EDCTP-funded COVID-19 research in sub-Saharan Africa.

To register:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cHhn2t0SQvuNJYemkJesBg

Agenda, the programme includes presentations and panel discussions on the following topics:

  • Surveillance and response
  • Focus on special populations (pediatric, pregnant women)
  • COVID-19 and other major infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa (HIV, TB, malaria)
  • New emerging research questions and knowledge gaps specific to sub-Saharan Africa

Download the webinar agenda (PDF)

More information

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ITAIL-COVID-19 Project second press release

Summarising the latest most important achievements, the project ITAIL-COVID-19 second press release is now available: click here to download.

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Second European-African training for the Congolese team on “SARS-CoV-2 detection by ApoH enzyme”

As part of the implementation of ITAIL-COVID-19 project funded by the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and coordinated by the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM), the Congolose team of this project participated on January 14, 2021 in the second online practical training on ′′ SARS-CoV-2 capture by the ApoH “. Supervised by the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), this second practical training allowed participants to become familiar with this ultrasensitive virus detection technique. The training on this new technology was carried out by Dr. Carolyn Thibal (ApoH-Technologies) and Professor Francisco Veas from IRD, Montpellier – France. This technique will detect newly infected people with very low viral load, not possible to be detected with conventional methods, including classic RT-PCR. This ApoH detection will be very helpful for monitoring health workers who are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. The first training was held on September 2020.

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FCRM (ITAIL-COVID-19 Coordinator) is working alongside with the Congolese Government to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM) is working alongside with the Government on the fight against the Covid-19.

As a means to have this pandemic under control through an adjusted response, as well as to support the government, the FCRM, through its health and research centres, got involved from the very beginning, not only on the screening of Covid-19, but also in the evaluation of the seroprevalence against this virus within the Congolese population.

From March 2020, FCRM is conducting a seroprevalence pilot study against SARS-Cov2 within the population of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Updated memo about this study can be dowloaded here in English or in French.

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SARS-CoV-2 study in Brazzaville published on International Journal for Infectious Diseases

To evaluate the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the asymptomatic Congolese population, a seroprevalence study was conducted in different districts of Brazzaville. The study, just published on International Journal of Infectious Disease*, provided the proportion of the population who seroconvert over the course of the first wave as an important data to predict the risk of future COVID-19 waves and this will facilitate the efficient use of limited resources in low income country like the Republic of Congo.

This project was funded by European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership – EDCTP, through the African-European research network  PANDORA-ID-Net (EDCTP Grant Agreement RIA2016E-1609) and ITAIL-COVID-19 (EDCTP Grant Agreement RIA2020EF-2947). Prof Francine Ntoumi is member of both CANTAM (EDCTP Grant Agreement RegNet2015-1045) and PANDORA-ID-Net networks.

*Batchi-Bouyou AL, Lobaloba L, Ndounga M, Vouvoungui JC, Mfoutou CM, Boumpoutou KR, Ntoumi F, High SARS-COV2 IgG/IGM seroprevalence in asymptomatic Congolese in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo, International Journal of Infectious Diseases (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.12.065

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ITAIL-COVID-19 meeting held on 24th Sept. 2020

The ITAIL-COVID-19 partners from Republic of Congo, France, Germany, Belgium and UK already started the project activities, which are proceeding tirelessly as highlighted during the routine project meeting held on 24th Sept. 2020. For the news release and further information click here

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Upcoming project meeting

The next ITAIL-COVID-19 Consortium meeting is scheduled on September, 24th 2020. It will be the pre-launch meeting, where the project partners will discuss about the already ongoing as well as the upcoming activities.