Publications

molecular characterization of a new mosaic simian immunodeficiency virus in a naturally infected tantalus monkey (chlorocebus tantalus) from cameroon: a challenge to the virus-host co-evolution of sivagm in african green monkeys.	african green monkeys (agms) represent the most widely distributed non-human primates species in africa. sivagm naturally infects four of the 6 agms species at high prevalence in a species-specific manner. to date, only limited information is available on molecular characteristics of sivagm infecting chlorocebus tantalus. here, we characterized the full-length genome of a virus infecting a naturally infected captive c. tantalus from cameroon by amplifying and sequencing sub-genomic pcr fragments ...	2015	25500294
characterization of hiv-1 gag and nef in cameroon: further evidence of extreme diversity at the origin of the hiv-1 group m epidemic.	cameroon, in west central africa, has an extraordinary degree of hiv diversity, presenting a major challenge for the development of an effective hiv vaccine. given the continuing need to closely monitor the emergence of new hiv variants in the country, we analyzed hiv-1 genetic diversity in 59 plasma samples from hiv-infected cameroonian blood donors. full length hiv gag and nef sequences were generated and phylogenetic analyses were performed.	2013	23339631
a novel multiregion hybridization assay reveals high frequency of dual inter-subtype infections among hiv-positive individuals in cameroon, west central africa.	in west and west central africa, multiple subtypes, circulating recombinant forms (crf), and high proportions of unique recombinant forms (urf) are documented. the predominance of recombinants strongly suggests that dual infections occur frequently. in the present study, we adapted the multi-region hybridization assay (mha), previously developed to identify dual infections in geographic regions where few hiv-1 variants circulate, to identify hiv-1 variants and dual infections. we designed clade- ...	2013	23232100
crf22_01a1 is involved in the emergence of new hiv-1 recombinants in cameroon.	cameroon is a west african country where high genetic diversity of hiv-1 has been reported. the predominant crf02_ag is involved in the emergence of more complex intersubtype recombinants. in this study, we sequenced the full-length genome of a novel unique recombinant form of hiv-1, 02camlt04 isolated in blood donors in urban cameroon. phylogenetic tree and bootscan analysis showed that 02camlt04 was complex and seemed to be a secondary recombinant derived from crf02_ag and crf22_01a1. the geno ...	2012	22549382
identification and genetic characterization of a novel crf22_01a1 recombinant form of hiv type 1 in cameroon.	cameroon is a country in west central africa in which all four groups of hiv-1 (m, n, o, and p), some circulating recombinant forms (crfs) and unique recombinant forms (urfs) are prevalent. the crf22 was initially identified through a novel urf strain, 01cm53122, and later defined from two additional sequences; however, the genomic properties of crf22 have never been demonstrated in detail. in this study, we describe the characterization of five crf22_01a1 strains, 02cmlt72, 01cm1867le, 01cm001b ...	2010	20812894
crf45_aku, a circulating recombinant from central africa, is probably the common ancestor of hiv type 1 mal and hiv type 1 nogil.	abstract in this study, we characterized four hiv-1 strains from cameroon, gabon, and the democratic republic of congo (drc), collected during independent serosurveys, and previously found to cluster in the pol gene with hiv-1 mal and hiv-1 nogil3, two complex recombinant viruses reported in the early hiv epidemic, and with the recombinant strain 04fr.auk recently described in france. the four newly sequenced viruses shared the same structure as 04fr.auk, involving alternating fragments of subty ...	2009	20001521
high frequency of hiv-1 dual infections among hiv-positive individuals in cameroon, west central africa.	to determine the frequency of dual inter- and intra-subtype hiv-1 infection among a cohort of 64 longitudinally-studied, hiv-1-positive individuals in yaoundé, cameroon.	2009	19295338
detection and molecular characterization of foamy viruses in central african chimpanzees of the pan troglodytes troglodytes and pan troglodytes vellerosus subspecies.	foamy viruses are exogenous retroviruses that are highly endemic in non-human primates (nhps). recent studies, mainly performed in north america, indicated frequent simian foamy virus (sfv) infection in persons occupationally exposed to nhps. this zoonotic infection was demonstrated mainly after bites by chimpanzees [pan troglodytes (p. t.)] of the west african p. t. verus subspecies in primatology centers or zoos in the usa.	2006	16556292
human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) circulating recombinant form 02_ag (crf02_ag) has a higher in vitro replicative capacity than its parental subtypes a and g.	human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) circulating recombinant form (crf) 02_ag is the predominant subtype in cameroon, even more prevalent than the parental subtypes a and g. an important question that needs to be addressed is whether recombination in hiv-1 infection can lead to the emergence of viruses with biological advantages. the replicative capacity was investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) of 13 r5-tropic primary hiv-1 isolates, including 5 crf02_ag, 4 subtype a ...	2006	16555291
genetic and biological properties of hiv type 1 isolates prevalent in villagers of the cameroon equatorial rain forests and grass fields: further evidence of broad hiv type 1 genetic diversity.	to understand the evolution of hiv-1, the genetic and biological characteristics of viruses that infect persons living in regions in which the virus has been evolving for several decades must be studied. thus, we investigated teh genetic subtypes, coreceptor usage, and syncytium-inducing ability of viruses in 47 hiv-1-infected blood samples from individuals living in rural villages in the equatorial rain forest and grass field regions in cameroon. heteroduplex mobility analysis (hma) of gag (par ...	2003	14717120
most env and gag subtype a hiv-1 viruses circulating in west and west central africa are similar to the prototype ag recombinant virus ibng.	the genetic subtype was identified in gag and env of 219 hiv-1-positive samples collected in different african countries, 44 from senegal, 55 from cameroon, 82 from gabon, and 38 from djibouti. in total, 20 (9.1%) samples had discordant subtypes between gag and env, 6 of 44 (13.9%) in senegal, 4 of 55 (7.2%) in cameroon, 1 of 38 (2.6%) in djibouti, and 10 of 82 (12.1%) in gabon. subtypes a and g were predominantly involved in the recombination events. phylogenetic tree analysis of gag showed tha ...	2000	10866228