In Western French Guiana, there was a dramatic increase in HIV prevalence between 1990 and 2000. The present study describes the causes of fever among HIV patients hospitalized in the medical ward of the only hospital in the western part of French Guiana. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted between 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2010 in the department of medicine of Saint Laurent du Maroni Hospital. The main characteristics of 67 patients having presented with fever in the first 48 hours of hospitalization were described. Among patients with CD4 <200/mm(3)the main febrile opportunistic infection was disseminated histoplasmosis (41.1%). Among patients with CD4 counts <50/mm(3)and fever without focal points 85.7% had disseminated histoplasmosis. Three patients died and all had disseminated histoplasmosis. Disseminated histoplasmosis is the most common febrile opportunistic infection in western French Guiana. Primary prophylaxis with itraconazole among immunocompromised patients seems warranted.

Disseminated histoplasmosis is one the main AIDS-defining opportunistic infections in HIV-infected patients, notably in Latin America. The non-specific and proteiform clinical presentation leads to diagnostic delays that may lead to fatal outcomes. This retrospective multicentric study aimed to describe the frequency and manifestations of gastrointestinal histoplasmosis in French Guiana, and to compare patients with disseminated histoplasmosis with or without gastrointestinal involvement. Between January 1, 1981 and October 1, 2014 co-infections with HIV and histoplasmosis were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were: age >18 years, confirmed HIV infection; first proven episode of histoplasmosis. Among 349 cases of disseminated histoplasmosis, 245 (70%) had a gastrointestinal presentation. Half of patients with gastrointestinal signs had abdominal pain or diarrhea, mostly watery. Half of patients with abdominal pain had diarrhea (63/124) and half of those with diarrhea (63/123) had abdominal pain. A significant proportion of patients also had hepatomegaly and, to a lesser degree, splenomegaly. After adjusting for potential confounding, the presence of lymphadenopathies >2cm (AOR = 0.2, IC95 = 0.04–0.7, P = 0.01), Haitian origin (AOR = 0.04, IC95 = 0.004–0.4, P = 0.006) were associated with a lower prevalence of gastrointestinal signs and positive gastrointestinal presence of H. capsulatum. Persons with a gastrointestinal H. capsulatum were more likely to have a decreased prothrombin time, lower ferritin, lower liver enzymes, and lower concentrations of LDH than those without gastrointestinal signs and symptoms. They also had a shorter interval between symptoms onset and diagnosis. Patients with a positive gastrointestinal identification of H. capsulatum were less likely to die at 1 month than those without a gastrointestinal presentation (respectively, 4.6% vs 18.5%, P = 0.01). Subacute or chronic gastrointestinal presentations are very frequent during disseminated histoplasmosis, they seem less severe, and should lead to suspect the diagnosis in endemic areas. There were populational or geographic differences in the frequency of gastrointestinal manifestations that could not be explained.

Background French Guiana has the highest incidence of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke of all French territories. However, there is no further information on the epidemiology and management of stroke in French Guiana. Our goal was to describe the characteristics of patients in French Guiana in order to generate hypotheses regarding the determinants explaining the magnitude of this public health problem. Methods We used the data of the French multicentre INDIA prospective cohort study which included consecutive patients aged > 18 years with a first-ever stroke from June 2011 to October 2014. For the present study, only patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke admitted in one of the 3 participating hospitals were analyzed. Results Among the 298 patients (mean age 62.2 ± 14.5 years, 63.7% man) included in French Guiana, 52% were born abroad. Most strokes were ischemic strokes (79%), 14% of which were thrombolyzed. Hypertension (70.2%), history of smoking (22%) and diabetes (25%) were the most common risk factors and 28.4% of patients had known but untreated hypertension. Overall 89 (38%) patients with ischemic stroke were admitted less than 4.5 h after the first symptoms. In-hospital mortality was greater for intracerebral hemorrhage (18.7%) than for ischemic stroke (4.2%). Overall, 84.5% had health insurance coverage and among these, 41.9% had CMU, the universal health insurance for the poor. Conclusions The present study is the first epidemiologic description of stroke in French Guiana. The comparisons of these results show that stroke patients in French Guiana are epidemiologically atypical because they are younger, and more likely to be males than patients in mainland France. Stroke risk factors and delay between stroke and hospital admission were comparable with what is observed in France, suggesting that efforts should focus on primary care and social inequalities of health to alleviate the main determinants of stroke in French Guiana.

Background Social deprivation may have a deleterious influence on post‐stroke outcomes, but available data in the literature are mixed. Aim The aim of this cohort study was to evaluate the impact of social deprivation on 1‐year survival in patients with first‐ever stroke. Methods Social deprivation was assessed at individual level with the EPICES score, a validated multidimensional questionnaire, in 1312 patients with ischemic stroke and 228 patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, who were prospectively enrolled in six French study centers. Baseline characteristics including stroke severity and pre‐stroke functional status were collected. Multivariable Cox models were generated to evaluate the associations between social deprivation and survival at 12 months in ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage separately. Results A total of 819 patients (53.2%) were socially deprived (EPICES score ≥ 30.17). In ischemic stroke, mortality at 12 months was higher in deprived than in non‐deprived patients (16% vs. 11%, p = 0.006). In multivariable analyses, there was no association between deprivation and death occurring within the first 90 days following ischemic stroke (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.81, 95% CI 0.54–1.22, p = 0.32). In contrast, an excess in mortality was observed between 90 days and 12 months in deprived compared with non‐deprived patients (aHR 1.97, 95% CI 1.14–3.42, p = 0.016). In patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, mortality at 12 months did not significantly differ according to deprivation status. Conclusions Social deprivation was associated with delayed mortality in ischemic stroke patients only and, although the exact underlying mechanisms are still to be identified, our findings suggest that deprived patients in particular may benefit from an optimization of post‐stroke care.

BackgroundMultiple approaches have been proposed to measure low socio-economic status. In France the concept of precariousness, akin to social deprivation, was developed and is widely used. EPICES is a short questionnaire that was developed to measure this concept. This study aimed to evaluate Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in the EPICES questionnaire between contrasted areas: mainland France, French West Indies (FWI) and French Guiana (FG). MethodsThe population was taken from the INDIA study, which aimed to evaluate the impact of social inequalities on stroke characteristics and prognosis. Eligible people were patients referred to neurology or emergency departments for a suspicion of stroke. We assessed the DIF using hybrid ordinal logistic regression method, derived from item response theory.