Hunting of peridomestic rodents and consumption of their meat as possible risk factors for rodent-to-human transmission of Lassa virus in the Republic of Guinea

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1996 Dec;55(6):661-6. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1996.55.661.

Abstract

In this population-based study, we correlated possible risk factors for rodent-to-human transmission of Lassa virus with markers of Lassa fever in two different regions of the Republic of Guinea (Prefectures of Pita and Gueckedou). Antibody prevalence was 2.6% (6 of 232) in Pita compared with 14.0% (105 of 751) in Gueckedou, with up to 35.0% seropositivity in selected villages of the higher prevalence area. We observed three major risk factors in Gueckedou favoring Lassa virus transmission: rodent infestation was much higher, food was more often stored uncovered and most strikingly, peridomestic rodents were hunted as a protein source by 91.5% of the population as opposed to 0% in Pita. To control for the confounding effects of differences in rodent infestation and food storage, rodent consumption was analyzed as a risk factor for transmission of Lassa virus comparing rodent consumers (RC) and nonconsumers (NC) in Gueckedou only: 14.6% of RC had Lassa virus antibodies versus 7.4% of NC (P = 0.1) and 23.0% of RC reported a history of a febrile illness with hearing loss (the most common sequel of Lassa fever) versus 6.1% of NC (P = 0.003).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Food Microbiology*
  • Guinea / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Lassa Fever / epidemiology
  • Lassa Fever / transmission*
  • Lassa virus / immunology
  • Male
  • Meat / virology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Muridae
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors
  • Rodentia

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral