Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs

These last ten years, we have been worked on some rare diseases in West Africa namely we talk about diseases transmitted by viruses like Zika, Dengue and Ebola but also de bacteria which are responsible for diseases like Lyme disease and Anaplamosis. We developed a one-step RT-PCR assay to detect ZIKV in human serum. In 2009 we demonstrated that Aedes aegypti, the “yellow fever mosquito”, is the primary vector to humans of the four serotypes of dengue viruses (DENV1-4) and yellow fever virus (YFV) .In 2014, we studied the role of bacteria belonging to Anaplasmataceae family as the causes

of acute illnesses of sheep in West Africa. We examined and sampled 120 febrile sheep in two regions of Senegal. The DNA extracted from these blood samples was tested by PCR using two pairs of primers (groEL-based and 16S rRNA gene-based). For the first time, A. phagocytophilum was found in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, we discussed the dissemination of filo viruses circulating within their possible chiropteran reservoir species. We reviewed that Vertebrate hosts suspected in the maintenance/transmission cycles and discussed their bio ecological features. We have been shown that despite the importance of the findings about reservoirs’ discovery of ebola virus, several other questions such as plurispecific associations, migration routes, breeding cycles need to be addressed and are pointed, in order to generate risk maps for filoviruses’ (re)emergence in West Africa.