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While the incidence of cholera is decreasing in Haiti, the time required to render stool culture results with antibiogram using the standard method practiced at the National Public Health Laboratory (LNSP) remains at an average of 80 hours. This delay can be further lengthened by the process of rendering the analysis reports to the sites of care which significantly delays the community responses to cholera. Through this study, we have aimed to assess the reliability of partial results. We have studied 250 stool samples that were analyzed between January and September 2017 at the LNSP by determining the specificity, positive predictive value and positive likelihood ratio of i) the identification of yellowish colonies and ii) the identification of yellowish colonies with a positive oxidase assay in comparison to the stool culture. Compared to the entire process, the identification of yellowish colonies showed a specificity of 56%, a positive predictive value of 69% and a positive likelihood ratio of 2.27. The identification of yellowish colonies with a positive oxidase assay showed a specificity of 77%, a positive predictive value of 81% and a positive likelihood ratio of 4.31. The communication of partial results at these steps would likely guide community interventions despite a relative decrease in reliability of the results.

Le temps nécessaire au rendu des résultats de culture des selles avec antibiogramme par la méthode classique pratiquée au Laboratoire national de santé publique (LNSP) d'Haïti s'étale sur une durée de 80 heures en moyenne. Ce délai peut être encore allongé par le processus de rendu des rapports d'analyse aux sites de prise en charge, ce qui retarde de manière significative les réponses communautaires face au choléra. Cette étude vise à évaluer la fiabilité de résultats partiels par rapport au processus complet. Nous avons inclus 250 échantillons de selles analysés au LNSP de janvier à septembre 2017 en déterminant la spécificité, la valeur prédictive positive et le rapport de vraisemblance positif de l'identification des colonies jaunâtres et de l'identification des colonies jaunâtres oxydase positive. Par rapport au processus complet de culture des selles, l'identification des colonies jaunâtres a montré une spécificité de 56 %, une valeur prédictive positive de 69 % et un rapport de vraisemblance positif de 2,27. Quant à l'identification des colonies jaunâtres oxydase positive, la spécificité est de 77 %, la valeur prédictive positive de 81 % et le rapport de vraisemblance positif de 4,31. La communication de résultats partiels aux équipes de terrain à ces étapes serait utile pour guider les interventions en dépit d'une relative diminution de leur fiabilité par rapport au gold standard.

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Human Taenia solium cysticercosis is common in developing countries due to poor sanitary conditions and economics based on breeding livestock, especially pigs, with low hygiene standards. Neurocysticercosis, caused by migration of the larvae of the tapeworm in the nervous system, is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in adults in Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and East and South Asia. This makes neurocysticercosis a large public health problem in developing countries. Two clinical cases of neurocysticercosis have been observed recently in Haiti. In order to evaluate the prevalence of human T. solium cysticercosis in this country, in 2007 we conducted a cross-sectional serological retrospective survey using a Western blotting test (LDBIO Diagnostics) in Port-au-Prince, where sewage systems are rare and swine usually roam freely throughout the area. A total of 216 serum samples, obtained from healthy adults seen in the work setting of periodical medical visits, were tested after storage at - 20 degrees C. The frequency of antibodies in serum samples of the study population was 2.8% (6/216). The immunodominant bands recognized in Western blots were 23-26 kDa (100%), 39 kDa (67%), 45 kDa and 6-8 kDa (50%), 50-55 kDa (33%). These results confirm for the first time an endemic situation of cysticercosis in humans in Haiti, with similar prevalence as that reported in other Latin American and African countries. It reinforces the urgent need for control and prevention measures to be taken by local public health services.

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An ethnomedical and ethnopharmacological research on the traditional use of plants to cure human diseases was carried out in the Thomonde area located in the Central Plateau of Haïti. Part 1 of this publication was an ethnomedical study of the traditional folk therapy system. In this second part, we list 161 local plants, distributed in 64 botanical families, currently used for treating 38 common diseases. These 161 species were collected and identified. Their latin names, local names, local medicinal uses, the used part of the plant and the form of remedy are described.

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