The niche of One Health approaches in Lassa fever surveillance and control.

One Health
Zoonosis
Lassa Fever
Published
West Africa
PANDORA
Authors
Affiliations

Liã Arruda

University College London

Najmul Haider

The Royal Veterinary College

Ayodeji Olayemi

Obafemi Awolowo University

David Simons

The Royal Veterinary College

Deborah Ehichioya

Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital

Adesola Yinka-Ogunleye

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Rashid Ansumana

Njala University

Margaret Thomason

University College London

Danny Asogun

Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital

Chikwe Ihekweazu

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet

Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine

Richard Kock

The Royal Veterinary College

Published

April 24, 2021

Abstract

Lassa fever (LF), a zoonotic illness, represents a public health burden in West African countries where the Lassa virus (LASV) circulates among rodents. Human exposure hinges significantly on LASV ecology, which is in turn shaped by various parameters such as weather seasonality and even virus and rodent-host genetics. Furthermore, human behaviour, despite playing a key role in the zoonotic nature of the disease, critically affects either the spread or control of human-to-human transmission. Previous estimations on LF burden date from the 80s and it is unclear how the population expansion and the improvement on diagnostics and surveillance methods have affected such predictions. Although recent data have contributed to the awareness of epidemics, the real impact of LF in West African communities will only be possible with the intensification of interdisciplinary efforts in research and public health approaches. This review discusses the causes and consequences of LF from a One Health perspective, and how the application of this concept can improve the surveillance and control of this disease in West Africa.

As part of the PANDORA-ID-NET consortium we wrote a review of Lassa Fever and the specific role of “One Health” approaches in order to identify potential interventions to mitigate the drivers of spill over into human populations. This review is available here in the Open Access publication Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials (Arruda et al. 2021)

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References

Arruda, Liã Bárbara, Najmul Haider, Ayodeji Olayemi, David Simons, Deborah Ehichioya, Adesola Yinka-Ogunleye, Rashid Ansumana, et al. 2021. “The Niche of One Health Approaches in Lassa Fever Surveillance and Control.” Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials 20 (1): 1–12.

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{arruda2021,
  author = {Arruda, Liã and Haider, Najmul and Olayemi, Ayodeji and
    Simons, David and Ehichioya, Deborah and Yinka-Ogunleye, Adesola and
    Ansumana, Rashid and Thomason, Margaret and Asogun, Danny and
    Ihekweazu, Chikwe and Fichet-Calvet, Elisabeth and Kock, Richard},
  title = {The Niche of {One} {Health} Approaches in {Lassa} Fever
    Surveillance and Control.},
  journal = {Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials},
  date = {2021-04-24},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12941-021-00431-0},
  doi = {10.1186/s12941-021-00431-0},
  langid = {en},
  abstract = {Lassa fever (LF), a zoonotic illness, represents a public
    health burden in West African countries where the Lassa virus (LASV)
    circulates among rodents. Human exposure hinges significantly on
    LASV ecology, which is in turn shaped by various parameters such as
    weather seasonality and even virus and rodent-host genetics.
    Furthermore, human behaviour, despite playing a key role in the
    zoonotic nature of the disease, critically affects either the spread
    or control of human-to-human transmission. Previous estimations on
    LF burden date from the 80s and it is unclear how the population
    expansion and the improvement on diagnostics and surveillance
    methods have affected such predictions. Although recent data have
    contributed to the awareness of epidemics, the real impact of LF in
    West African communities will only be possible with the
    intensification of interdisciplinary efforts in research and public
    health approaches. This review discusses the causes and consequences
    of LF from a One Health perspective, and how the application of this
    concept can improve the surveillance and control of this disease in
    West Africa.}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Arruda, Liã, Najmul Haider, Ayodeji Olayemi, David Simons, Deborah Ehichioya, Adesola Yinka-Ogunleye, Rashid Ansumana, et al. 2021. “The Niche of One Health Approaches in Lassa Fever Surveillance and Control.” Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials, April. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12941-021-00431-0.