Clinical microbiology laboratory

‌In 2000, the CVD and CVD-Mali established a clinical microbiology laboratory in Bamako and trained a team of Malians as microbiologists and technicians. The laboratory began systematic surveillance for invasive bacterial infections through collection and testing of blood cultures from hospitalized children with fever and sterile body fluid cultures from patients with suspected focal infections.

The data revealed an enormous burden of invasive infections due to two vaccine-preventable infections, Haemophilus Influenza B (Hib) and pneumococcus. Based on the data, the Malian authorities introduced Hib vaccine in July 2005. CVD-Mali investigators monitored the vaccine program with continued surveillance. Three years after introduction, incidence of Hib disease had fallen by approximately 80 percent, which provided powerful feedback on the impact.