Recherche Fondamentale (basic research) - BamaCoV - Étude de l'épidémie de SARS-CoV-2 dans les services hospitaliers de Bamako, Mali BamaCoV: Study of SARS-Cov-2 outbreak in hospital departments of Bamako, Mali

The new coronavirus known as SARS-Cov-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome -coronavirus 2) was first reported in December 2019. Its spread is such that it has since been declared pandemic and represents a public health emergency. Europe quickly became heavily impacted by the virus, now joined by America, areas where political and health authorities are trying with great difficulties to contain the epidemic that seriously affects elderly or co-morbid people. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect many sensitive regions with fragile health care systems, such as Africa. Indeed, 2230 cases have already been confirmed in Mali so far, affecting every region. Bamako is the most impacted city. Caregivers, in the front line of Covid19 patient management, may accidentally become infected and a source of infection during the incubation phase or in case of asymptomatic infection. The objectives of this project are thus i) to limit SARS-Cov-2 spread over the hospital departments of Bamako by carrying out a systematic molecular screening of symptomatic persons (patients/caregivers) or confirmed cases contacts and by highlighting transmission clusters, and ii) to evaluate the feasibility of Point-Of-Care molecular assays in Mali. In addition, iii) viral spread and immunity acquired from SARS-Cov-2 among health workers through serological testing, allowing also the assessment of asymptomatic caregivers rate and absence of re-infection among the immunized caregivers. Finally, iv) variability of the virus over time and spread of different variants around the world will be studied by sequencing the viral genome. The data obtained during this collaborative work will better characterize the COVID19 infection in Bamako and will give the opportunity to struggle against in real time, while it seems essential to limit as much as possible the spread of the virus in developing countries. Our project also aims to improve our virological knowledge about this emerging virus.