On April 27 - May 10, 2026 Islam Karmokov and Ivan Lyzenko, junior researchers, zoonotic laboratory, conducted research on the "Study of the Etiology of Fevers of Unexplained Genesis in the Republic of Guinea" at the laboratory complex of the Russian-Guinean Research Center for Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases (Kindia, Guinea). The research is part of the extraterritorial monitoring of infectious threats in the Republic of Guinea under the federal project "The Sanitary Shield of the Country – Health Security (Prevention, Detection, Response)".
The scientists analyzed 170 blood serum samples using molecular genetic and serological methods. Serum samples from patients with fever of unknown etiology were tested using real-time PCR (for the presence of genetic material from pathogenic leptospires, Rickettsia spp. SFG, Coxiella burnetii, and Borrelia miyamotoi) and ELISA (for the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to Leptospira interrogans and hantaviruses).
According to the results of the tests, DNA from pathogenic leptospires was detected in three samples (1.8%), Rickettsia spp. SFG in two samples (1.2%), and C. burnetii in one sample (0.6%). Genetic material from B. miyamotoi was not detected. IgG antibodies to L. interrogans were detected in 118 samples (69.4%), IgM antibodies in 102 (60.0%), IgG antibodies to hantaviruses were detected in 114 samples (67.1%), and IgM antibodies in 139 (81.8%).
These results indicate that L. interrogans, hantaviruses, Rickettsia spp. SFG, and C. burnetii may play a significant role in the etiology of fevers of unknown origin among residents of West African countries.
