Mining Associated Malaria Epidemics

Tropical alluvial gold and gem miners are often an especially at-risk population for malaria infection. Geographical areas of mining-associated malaria epidemics in the recent past include Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar); the Amazon basin (Brazil, French Guyana, Suriname, Columbia, and Peru); and tropical Africa. Mobile populations of young adult men engaged in the hard labor of mining may experience severe malaria especially if they lack preexisting immunity and are irregularly consuming antimalarial drugs. Particular problems occur because much of this informal mining activity is illegal and done in isolated areas without access to health services and with evidence of emerging antimalarial drug resistance. Concentrating vulnerable populations in an ecologically disturbed landscape is often conducive to epidemics, which can then spread as these highly mobile workers return to their homes. Mining-associated malaria endangers malaria elimination efforts and miners need to be addressed as a group of particular concern.

Amanita sect. Phalloideae: Two Interesting Non-Lethal Species from West Africa

The members of Amanita sect. Phalloideae (Fr.) Quél. are responsible of a lot of fatalities worldwide. However, a limited number of species in this section were described as non-lethal because of the lack of deadly toxins. Sequences of species belonging to the section from tropical Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe were involved in this study. Sequences of five genes (ITS, nrLSU, RPB2 , TEF1-α , β-tubulin ) were used to elucidate the phylogenetic affinities among the species. The results indicated that the section has three subclades, one lethal subclade (subclade I) and two non-lethal subclades (subclade II and subclade III). Moreover, two non-lethal species from tropical Africa, namely A. ballerinoides and A. bulbulosa were newly described based on both morphology and molecular approaches. Phylogenetically, they cluster in the same subclade (subclade III) with other known non-lethal amanitas, including A. ballerina, A. chuformis, A. franzii, A. levistriata, and A. pseudogemmata . Neither amatoxins nor phallotoxins were detected in A. ballerinoides and A. bulbulosa by LC-HRMS, which agree with their placements in the non-lethal subclade III within A. sect. Phalloideae . Finally, a key to the West African species of Amanita sect. Phalloideae is provided.

Plausible causes of low incidence of COVID 19 in Tropical Africa: A review

No Abstract.

Niveoporofomes (Basidiomycota, Fomitopsidaceae) in Tropical Africa: Niveoporofomes oboensis sp. nov. and N.widdringtoniae comb. nov., two species from Afromontane Forests

During a survey of polypores in the montane forest of the Ôbo de São Tomé National Park, in the western African, equatorial island of São Tomé, a specimen that was, a priori, related to Fomitopsis, based on the gross morphology of the basidiome and a brown rot, showed deviating features including subglobose basidiospores with a large gutta, what pointed toward Niveoporofomes. Phylogenetic inferences based on multiple loci dataset (ITS-nLSU-nSSU-tef1-rpb2) confirmed these affinities, and Niveoporofomes oboensis is described as new. The species is compared to Fomitopsis widdringtoniae, known from southeast Africa, which is characterized also by subglobose basidiospores; hence, the new combination N. widdringtoniae is proposed. The new combination Niveoporofomes globosporus (basionym Trametes globospora) is also proposed based on phylogenetic analyses. A key to the species of Fomitopsis, Niveoporofomes, Rhodofomes, and Rhodofomitopsis in Tropical Africa is presented.

The Political Crisis of 2020–2021 in Mali

The subject of consideration is the 2020 crisis in Mali. The events are viewed in the context of the geopolitical transformations taking place in West Africa. The purpose of the study is to find out the causes and consequences of military and political cataclysms that threaten the state integrity of Mali and the stability of the situation in Tropical Africa. The situation in Mali remains poorly known: it is not clear what forces will determine the vector of its political and military-strategic development. It is obvious that France is losing its influence in the region, which is largely due to the emergence of new actors in international relations here. This, in turn, allows Africans to diversify their foreign economic and political orientations. The author assumes that the named processes will provoke an intense competition for influence in the countries of Tropical Africa.