IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pntd00/0009108.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An exploration of the protective effect of rodent species richness on the geographical expansion of Lassa fever in West Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Kyung-Duk Min
  • Jusun Hwang
  • Maria Cristina Schneider
  • Yeonghwa So
  • Ju-Yeun Lee
  • Sung-il Cho

Abstract

Background: Lassa fever (LF) is one of the most devastating rodent-borne diseases in West Africa, causing thousands of deaths annually. The geographical expansion of LF is also a concern; cases were recently identified in Ghana and Benin. Previous ecological studies have suggested that high natural-host biodiversity reduces the likelihood of spillover transmission of rodent-borne diseases, by suppressing the activities of reservoir species. However, the association of biodiversity with the geographical expansion of LF has not been the subject of epidemiological studies. Methodology/Principal findings: We conducted a spatial analysis based on sociodemographic, geographical, and ecological data, and found that higher rodent species richness was significantly associated with a lower risk of LF emergence in West Africa from 2008 to 2017 (Odds Ratio = 0.852, 95% Credible Interval = 0.745–0.971). Conclusions/Significance: The results reinforce the importance of the ‘One Health’ approach by demonstrating that a high level of biodiversity could benefit human health. Author summary: Rodent diversity has been studied as a protective factor for rodent-borne diseases and rodent-related tick-borne diseases, such as hantavirus infection and Lyme diseases, in human population. The protective effect is called dilution effect and based on the ecological mechanism that the high diversity of rodent species could suppress the activities of reservoir rodents thereby reduce the likelihood of spillover transmission from rodents. However, the effect has been studied mostly for endemic diseases, and the effect on the geographical expansion of rodent-borne diseases has not been the subject of epidemiological studies. Considering that the dilution effect may also be applicable to the geographic expansion of rodent-borne infectious diseases in that a high rodent species diversity could decrease migration of infected rodents from the disease-endemic area, we examined the association between rodent species richness and the geographical expansion of Lassa fever (LF) in West African countries. Analyzing the regions without LF until 2007, the results showed that the region with lower number of rodent species showed higher risk of emerging LF cases from 2008 to 2017, implying the protective effect of higher rodent species richness on spatial expansion of LF. The results reinforce the importance of the ‘One Health’ approach by demonstrating that a high level of biodiversity could benefit human health.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyung-Duk Min & Jusun Hwang & Maria Cristina Schneider & Yeonghwa So & Ju-Yeun Lee & Sung-il Cho, 2021. "An exploration of the protective effect of rodent species richness on the geographical expansion of Lassa fever in West Africa," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pntd00:0009108
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009108
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009108&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009108?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feng-Jenq Lin, 2008. "Solving Multicollinearity in the Process of Fitting Regression Model Using the Nested Estimate Procedure," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 417-426, June.
    2. Catherine Linard & Marius Gilbert & Robert W Snow & Abdisalan M Noor & Andrew J Tatem, 2012. "Population Distribution, Settlement Patterns and Accessibility across Africa in 2010," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(2), pages 1-8, February.
    3. Felicia Keesing & Lisa K. Belden & Peter Daszak & Andrew Dobson & C. Drew Harvell & Robert D. Holt & Peter Hudson & Anna Jolles & Kate E. Jones & Charles E. Mitchell & Samuel S. Myers & Tiffany Bogich, 2010. "Impacts of biodiversity on the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases," Nature, Nature, vol. 468(7324), pages 647-652, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Suwatchai Denfanapapol & Prasongchai Setthasuravich & Surapong Rattanakul & Aphisit Pukdeewut & Hironori Kato, 2024. "The Digital Divide, Wealth, and Inequality: An Examination of Socio-Economic Determinants of Collaborative Environmental Governance in Thailand through Provincial-Level Panel Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Paul L. G. Vlek & Asia Khamzina & Hossein Azadi & Anik Bhaduri & Luna Bharati & Ademola Braimoh & Christopher Martius & Terry Sunderland & Fatemeh Taheri, 2017. "Trade-Offs in Multi-Purpose Land Use under Land Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Forrest R Stevens & Andrea E Gaughan & Catherine Linard & Andrew J Tatem, 2015. "Disaggregating Census Data for Population Mapping Using Random Forests with Remotely-Sensed and Ancillary Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Gollin, Douglas & Lagakos, David & Kirchberger, Martina, 2017. "In Search of a Spatial Equilibrium in the Developing World," CEPR Discussion Papers 12114, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Lin Zhang & Jason Rohr & Ruina Cui & Yusi Xin & Lixia Han & Xiaona Yang & Shimin Gu & Yuanbao Du & Jing Liang & Xuyu Wang & Zhengjun Wu & Qin Hao & Xuan Liu, 2022. "Biological invasions facilitate zoonotic disease emergences," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Elizabeth C Lee & Andrew S Azman & Joshua Kaminsky & Sean M Moore & Heather S McKay & Justin Lessler, 2019. "The projected impact of geographic targeting of oral cholera vaccination in sub-Saharan Africa: A modeling study," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Michal Chvostáč & Eva Špitalská & Radovan Václav & Tatiana Vaculová & Lenka Minichová & Markéta Derdáková, 2018. "Seasonal Patterns in the Prevalence and Diversity of Tick-Borne Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia spp. in an Urban Temperate Forest in South Western Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Blanco, Esther & Baier, Alexandra & Holzmeister, Felix & Jaber-Lopez, Tarek & Struwe, Natalie, 2022. "Substitution of social sustainability concerns under the Covid-19 pandemic," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    9. Rosemary A. McFarlane & Adrian C. Sleigh & Anthony J. McMichael, 2013. "Land-Use Change and Emerging Infectious Disease on an Island Continent," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-21, June.
    10. Medeiros-Sousa, Antônio Ralph & Lange, Martin & Mucci, Luis Filipe & Marrelli, Mauro Toledo & Grimm, Volker, 2024. "Modelling the transmission and spread of yellow fever in forest landscapes with different spatial configurations," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 489(C).
    11. Antony Millner & Hélène Ollivier, 2016. "Beliefs, Politics, and Environmental Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(2), pages 226-244.
    12. Jennifer L Smith & Rebecca M Flueckiger & Pamela J Hooper & Sarah Polack & Elizabeth A Cromwell & Stephanie L Palmer & Paul M Emerson & David C W Mabey & Anthony W Solomon & Danny Haddad & Simon J Bro, 2013. "The Geographical Distribution and Burden of Trachoma in Africa," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(8), pages 1-13, August.
    13. Beatrice Asenso Barnieh & Li Jia & Massimo Menenti & Min Jiang & Jie Zhou & Yelong Zeng & Ali Bennour, 2021. "Modeling the Underlying Drivers of Natural Vegetation Occurrence in West Africa with Binary Logistic Regression Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-37, April.
    14. Augeraud-Véron, Emmanuelle & Fabbri, Giorgio & Schubert, Katheline, 2021. "Prevention and mitigation of epidemics: Biodiversity conservation and confinement policies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    15. Fawad Ahmed & Naveed Ahmad Faraz & Zhengde Xiong & Ying Ma, 2024. "The multilevel interplay of responsible leadership with leader identification and autonomous motivation to cultivate voluntary green behavior," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 1861-1889, December.
    16. Cecilia M. V. B. Almeida & Biagio F. Giannetti & Feni Agostinho & Gengyuan Liu & Zhifeng Yang, 2021. "What Are the Stimuli to Change to a Sustainable Post-COVID-19 Society?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-13, November.
    17. Mathieu Pruvot & Manigandan Lejeune & Susan Kutz & Wendy Hutchins & Marco Musiani & Alessandro Massolo & Karin Orsel, 2016. "Better Alone or in Ill Company? The Effect of Migration and Inter-Species Comingling on Fascioloides magna Infection in Elk," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    18. Sengupta, Pooja & Biswas, Baidyanath & Kumar, Ajay & Shankar, Ravi & Gupta, Shivam, 2021. "Examining the predictors of successful Airbnb bookings with Hurdle models: Evidence from Europe, Australia, USA and Asia-Pacific cities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 538-554.
    19. D. Woods & A. Cunningham & C. E. Utazi & M. Bondarenko & L. Shengjie & G. E. Rogers & P. Koper & C. W. Ruktanonchai & E. zu Erbach-Schoenberg & A. J. Tatem & J. Steele & A. Sorichetta, 2022. "Exploring methods for mapping seasonal population changes using mobile phone data," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Alexandros Korkovelos & Babak Khavari & Andreas Sahlberg & Mark Howells & Christopher Arderne, 2019. "The Role of Open Access Data in Geospatial Electrification Planning and the Achievement of SDG7. An OnSSET-Based Case Study for Malawi," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-36, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pntd00:0009108. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosntds (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.