Allison R Smither, James Koninga, Franklyn B Kanneh, Momoh Foday, Matthew L Boisen, Nell G Bond, Mambu Momoh, John Demby Sandi, Lansana Kanneh, Foday Alhasan, Ibrahim Mustapha Kanneh, Mohamed S Yillah, Donald S Grant, Duane J Bush, Diana K S Nelson, Kaitlin M Cruz, Raphaëlle Klitting, Matthias Pauthner, Kristian G Andersen, Jeffrey G Shaffer, Robert W Cross, John S Schieffelin, Robert F Garry
BACKGROUND: Lassa fever (LF) is a rodent-borne disease endemic to West Africa. In the absence of licensed therapeutics or vaccines, rodent exclusion from living spaces remains the primary method of preventing LF. Zoonotic surveillance of Lassa virus (LASV), the etiologic agent of LF, can assess the burden of LASV in a region and guide public health measures against LF. METHODS: In this study, we adapted commercially available LASV human diagnostics to assess the prevalence of LASV in peri-domestic rodents in Eastern Sierra Leone...
March 20, 2023: medRxiv