The first laboratory-confirmation of anthrax during an outbreak in Guinea

The prefecture of Koubia in the Labe region of Guinea suffers from permanent threats due to anthrax outbreaks. However, investigations have never benefited from laboratory diagnostic testing and have relied only on clinical diagnosis. The most recent anthrax outbreak in Guinea occurred in February and May of 2019 in Koubia, and involved two different communities. In this work, we performed laboratory diagnostic testing on samples collected during field investigation. We report the first evidence of laboratory confirmation of anthrax in Guinea. This work highlights the importance for conducting study to understand the dynamic of anthrax at the human, animal, and environment interface in the prefecture of Koubia. Keywords: Guinea, Koubia, anthrax, laboratory, diagnostic.