ReviewThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene2023
COVID-19 in 16 West African Countries: An Assessment of the Epidemiology and Genetic Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 after Four Epidemic Waves.
Review in The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reduced COVID-19 severity in Africa: a systematic review of host genetic and immunological responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- High exposure of pregnant women to SARS-CoV-2 during COVID-19 waves in Senegal.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in the population of Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) in 2022.Virology journal · 2026Article
- Two years of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance capacity development in Guinea.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Sentinel surveillance of COVID-19 in 2024-2025 shows the persistence of Omicron circulation and the introduction of the XFJ recombinant in the Republic of Guinea.The Pan African medical journal · 2026Article
- Qualitative exploration of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among healthcare workers in Sierra Leone: do the 'trusted messengers' trust the vaccine?BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Understanding the perceptions of risks versus the benefits of COVID-19 vaccinations in Manyara, Tanzania.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Article
- Physician burnout in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: prevalence and associated factors among resident doctors and consultants in Delta State, Nigeria.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Respiratory Pathogens in Nasopharyngeal Swabs of Febrile Patients with or without Respiratory Symptoms in the Niakhar Area of Rural Senegal.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Seroprevalence and risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in middle-sized cities of Burkina Faso: A descriptive cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
West Africa faced the COVID-19 pandemic in early March 2020 and, as of March 31, 2022, had more than 900,000 confirmed cases and more than 12,000 deaths. During this period, SARS-CoV-2 genomes evolved genetically, resulting in the emergence of distinct lineages. This review was conducted to provide the epidemiological profile of COVID-19, the mutational profile of SARS-CoV-2, and the dynamics of its lineages in the 16 west African countries by analyzing data from 33 studies and seven situation reports. For a more complete representation of the epidemiology and genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2, we used reliable public data in addition to eligible studies. As of March 31, 2022, the 16 west African countries experienced four epidemic waves with variable intensities. Higher mortality was noted during the third wave with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.9%. After these four epidemic waves, Liberia recorded the highest CFR (4.0%), whereas Benin had the lowest CFR (0.6%). Through mutational analysis, a high genetic heterogeneity of the genomes was observed, with a predominance of mutations in the spike protein. From this high mutational rate, different lineages emerged. Our analysis of the evolutionary diversity allowed us to count 205 lineages circulating in west Africa. This study has provided a good representation of the mutational profile and the prevalence of SARS CoV-2 lineages beyond the knowledge of the global epidemiology of the 16 African countries.
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