Meningitis - Centre Pasteur du Cameroun

Meningitis surveillance

The bacteriology laboratory of the Pasteur Center of Cameroon is responsible for confirming suspected cases of meningitis in Cameroon. Weekly reports are sent to the Ministry of Public Health and various partners. In 2023, a total of 99 CSFs were analyzed at the Pasteur Center Annex in Garoua, of which 5 were positive. The germs identified were Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae. In Yaoundé, 860 CSFs were analyzed, 35% of which were positive. 20% of the positives were Crytococcus neoformans and 5% Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Cases of Salmonella meningitis are sometimes described and result from the dissemination of this bacterium during the invasive phase of Salmonella infection. These meningitis can affect all age groups, with a predominance in infants (less than 1 year old). The epidemiology of Salmonella serotypes responsible for meningitis varies from one country to another, but, as with the majority of Salmonella infections, the ubiquitous serotypes (Typhimurium, Enteritidis and Stanleyville) are the most frequent.

Case-by-case surveillance of meningitis

Case-by-case surveillance of meningitis (CBS) in Cameroon follows the MenAFRIVAC (Meningococcal A Conjugate Vaccine) vaccination campaigns of 2011. This surveillance was initially carried out in the northern part of the country and in the northwest region, but is now on hold in the latter region. The CPC Bacteriology Laboratory is at the heart of this surveillance, notably through the biological confirmation of suspected cases of meningitis and the weekly transmission of surveillance reports to the Ministry of Health and various partners.

Annual report

The table below summarizes the results of CSF culture received in 2017 as part of SCC surveillance in the northern region of Cameroon. A bacterial etiology was identified for 16/244 (6.6%) CSF, with a predominance of N. meningitidis W/Y, frequently encountered for several years in the northern region of Cameroon. The systematic performance of a serogrouping PCR of all meningococcal strains should be considered after latex tests to detect soluble antigens in CSF.

Measles/Rubella

Measles/Rubella Surveillance Activities As the WHO National Reference Laboratory for measles and rubella, the CPC is responsible for ensuring the serological diagnosis of these pathologies. Samples from suspected cases are sent to the CPC via the GTC/PEV for testing for the presence of IgM anti-measles and rubella virus using the ELISA technique (Euroimmun diagnostic kits […]

Avian flu

Avian Flu Surveillance Activities The Cameroon Pasteur Center is mandated by the Ministry of Public Health and the WHO to conduct diagnostic tests for the detection of avian viruses. Between 2016 and 2017, Cameroon suffered an avian influenza epidemic with high poultry mortality in several outbreaks across the country in the Central, South, West, Adamawa, […]

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS surveillance activities The CPC houses the National Reference Laboratory for HIV viral load determination. The laboratory processed 21,392 HIV VL requests in 2023 compared to 24,313 in 2022, a decrease of 12.01%. Our expertise is used in HIV input quantification committees and all other issues related to HIV VL testing. The CPC is responsible […]

Rage

Rabies surveillance activities Rabies is endemic in Cameroon, and dogs are the primary vector of human rabies transmission. Only one sample from a suspected human rabies patient was received at the CPC in 2023 and tested negative following confirmatory testing. No biological analysis was performed on animal samples suspected of being rabid. Animal rabies In […]

Poliomyélite

POLIO SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES (NAT LAB AND WHO INTER-COUNTRY) The Centre Pasteur du Cameroun is a national and inter-country laboratory for poliovirus surveillance in Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Sao Tome and Principe. Diagnosis is made using stool samples from children with Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) to detect wild poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus, or vaccine-derived poliovirus. […]

Human Flu

Activités de surveillance de la Grippe Humaine Le CPC est Centre National de Référence de la Grippe au Cameroun. A ce titre, il effectue une surveillance organisée sous forme de surveillance sentinelle et une surveillance biologique ciblant essentiellement les formes bénignes de la grippe. Le diagnostic biologique se fait grâce à la mise en place […]

Ebola

Ebola surveillance activities The CPC is the national reference laboratory for the surveillance of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF). The laboratory is responsible, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, for ensuring the biological confirmation of suspected cases of VHF in Cameroon. National VHF surveillance was significantly affected by the very first outbreak of […]

Cholera

Cholera surveillance activities The CPC carries out biological confirmation of cases and transmits daily reports to the authorities and the various partners involved in response actions. A total of 94 suspect stools were sent to the CPC for cholera vibrio testing in 2023. Following the analyses, 35 cases of cholera were confirmed, all of the […]

Yellow Fever

Yellow fever surveillance activities The CPC houses both the national laboratory for Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, and the Regional Reference Laboratory (RRL) for yellow fever for 10 countries in the WHO African Region. In its role as RRL, it provides training, technical support, quality control and quality assurance activities to the […]