This study aimed to determine the prevalence and establish some risk factors associated with the acquisition of gastrointestinal parasitic infections in school children in Accra, Ghana. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was 15%. Giardia lamblia (10%) and Schistosoma mansoni (1.7%) were the common parasites found. Out of the 15% students postive for intestinal parasites, 13.6% had single parasites and 1.3% had double parasitic infections. Children between the ages of 4–5 and 6–7 years (20% each) had the most parasitic infections. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was not significantly related to gender (p = 0.1451), and source of drinking water (p = 0.8832). However, a statistically significant association between children infected with parasites and close proximity to domestic animals or pets was observed (p = 0.0284). Continuous education on personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and deworming of domestic animals or pets are required to reduce the prevalence of intestinal parasites in school children in Accra.

Background: During the pandemic, numerous serological tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2) have been developed. However, limited data exist on the clinical performance of these immunoassays with sera from Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical performance characteristics of a lateral flow IgG antibody test using serum and plasma samples from Ghana. Method: We assessed the performance of the COVID-19 Sero-NP/RBD test, a dual-target lateral flow assay designed to simultaneously detect IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein (NP) and spike receptor-binding domain (RBD). Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were determined using pre-pandemic plasma samples ( N = 300) and samples from recovered COVID-19 patients with varying symptom severity ( N = 308). Test performance was further analyzed in relation to antibody concentration. Results: The combined detection of anti-RBD and anti-NP antibodies yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 96.1% (95% CI: 94.1–98.4) and a specificity of 99.0% (95% CI: 97.1–99.8). Combined antigen detection significantly outperformed individual antigen targets ( p < 0.001), with RBD-targeted responses demonstrating higher sensitivity than NP alone. Sensitivity declined with lower antibody titres, decreasing to 86.0% for samples with ≤ 25 BAU/mL and to 57.0% for those with ≤ 7.5 BAU/mL when either antigen was used alone. Conclusion: The COVID-19 Sero-NP/RBD lateral flow test demonstrated high accuracy in detecting past SARS CoV-2 infection in sera from Ghana. Dual-antigen targeting enhanced diagnostic sensitivity, particularly in individuals with low antibody titres. This assay may serve as a practical tool for assessing individual serostatus and monitoring population-level seroprevalence in Ghana and similar African settings.

Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gatti are the two most common pathogenic species of the encapsulated yeast genus Cryptococcus and have been linked to fatal neurologic infections in both immunocompromised and healthy individuals. Cryptococcosis, which includes AIDS-defining diseases such as cryptococcal meningitis and meningoencephalitis, is the most frequent fungal infection of the central nervous system, with Africa having the greatest fatality rate. The goal of this study was to identify and characterize C. neoformans from pigeon and bat droppings, which are thought to be environmental reservoirs for the yeast and to determine their relatedness to clinical species. A total of 588 dried and 55 moist pigeon droppings, as well as 50 moist bat droppings, were collected from 18 sites in Ghana’s Greater Accra and Western regions, from sources which included markets, a church, households, and a public park. Seven clinical archived C. neoformans isolates were also retrieved from the Central Laboratory of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Greater Accra. Using conventional methods and partial Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST), 49 Cryptococcus neoformans var grubii were isolated from dried pigeon droppings only, yielding a prevalence of 7%. The sequence type (ST)/MLST group could not be defined based on the available data, although the allele types of the housekeeping genes in some of the isolates were identified. Some clinical strains had allele types that were found among the environmental strains, giving preliminary evidence of possible genetic relatedness, highlighting the need for more comprehensive genomic surveillance approaches, to better characterize environmental and clinical cryptococcal isolate transmission patterns and genetic relationships. This work also adds to the global literature supporting pigeon droppings as favorable ecological niches for Cryptococcus. This study was conducted within a One Health framework, recognizing the interconnected roles of environmental reservoirs, animal-associated sources, and human health in the epidemiology of Cryptococcus infections.

Shortly after its first outbreak in Wuhan, the SARS CoV-2 spread worldwide. This study determined SARS CoV-2 seroprevalence and compared anti-RBD IgG titre distributions among seropositive samples across four repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted during successive epidemic waves from August 2020 to January 2022. Age-specific seroprevalence and titre patterns were also examined across children, adolescents, and adults. We conducted a seroepidemiological cross-sectional study over four epidemic waves periods. A stratified 1,096 samples, reflecting the age and sex distribution of the Accra population, was selected from 15,000 residual clinical samples. Adjusted seroprevalence increased from 58.3% (95% CI: 53.9–62.6%) in wave 1 to > 90% by wave 2 and remained ≥ 96% in waves 3 and 4. Adults aged ≥ 20 years reached near-universal seropositivity earlier than children, who accumulated exposure more gradually. Despite this early plateau, geometric mean anti-RBD IgG concentrations increased from 162 BAU/mL in wave 1 to 625 BAU/mL in wave 3, stabilising at 584 BAU/mL in wave 4. Analyses of antibody titre distributions demonstrated that progressively larger proportions of adults showed concentrations substantially exceeding wave 1 baseline levels in later waves, indicating age-related differences in cumulative antigenic exposure. Across successive epidemic waves, Accra experienced intense and repeated SARS CoV-2 transmission, resulting in near-universal exposure of the adult population by May 2021. Children and adolescents showed a slower and more gradual increase in both seroprevalence and antibody concentrations. Anti-RBD IgG titres increased across successive waves and stabilised after August–November 2021, consistent with sustained cumulative antigenic exposure at the population level.