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World Health Organisation (WHO): Lassa fever

This is the WHO emergencies website page for Lassa fever.

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Epidemics of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Gabon (1994-2002)

This resource considers the cultural and psycho-sociological aspects accounting for the difficulty to implement control measures during the Ebola haemorrhagic fever epidemics in Gabon between 1994 and 2002. It discusses the possibilities of better surveillance and a quick management of intervention means, including a regional permanent pre-alert.

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Lassa Fever: a rodent-human interaction

This resource examines the sites of interactions between humans and the multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis. It presents findings such as new arenaviruses in other African rodents and in snakes, that argue preferably toward the host-switching concept. The recent emergence in Sierra Leone, the absence of virus positive Mastomys between the two endemic zones and poor virus diversity in the Mano River area also point in the direction of a unique import of Lassa virus from Nigeria to Sierra Leone during the 19th century. This resource also discusses the hypothesis of human displacements through the Atlantic slave trade and its abolition in 1807.

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Diversity and dynamics in a community of small mammals in coastal Guinea, West Africa

This resource investigated three villages in high endemic zones of Lassa fever in Guinea and presents the biodeiversity of the small mammal community identified through standardized trapping in houses, cultivations and forest.

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Forecasting rodent outbreaks in Africa: an ecological basis for Mastomys control in Tanzania

This study collected rainfall data preceding historical outbreaks of Mastomys rats in East Africa in order to test the hypothesis that such outbreaks occur after long dry periods. It found that rodent outbreaks were generally not preceded by long dry period and the population dynamics of Mastomys natalensis rats in Tanzania are significantly affected by the distribution of rainfall during the rainy season.

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Lassa fever: The politics of an emerging disease and the scope for One Health

As a rodent borne virus, Lassa fever is of particular interest from a One Health perspective. The interplay between security, public health and One Health approaches are explored through ethnographic and interview based research in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a long-term treatment and research hub. ‘Biodefence dollars’ have provided the majority of recent funding in Sierra Leone and have created opportunities for both local and international actors to address a neglected disease.

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Fluctuation of abundance and Lassa virus prevalence in Mastomys Natalensis in Guinea, West Africa

This study investigates the link between the ecology of the M. Natalensis and the incidence of Lassa fever in human cases in Guinea. They found that the risk for Lassa virus transmission was present in both rainy and dry season; however the risk increased in the dry season because of the possibility of encountering rodent excreta in the houses.

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Movement patterns of small rodents in Lassa fever-endemic villages in Guinea

The authors investigate in this study the spatial behaviour of M. Natalensis in Upper Guinea. They use to experiments: capture-mark-recapture studies and Rhodamine B. Their findings showed that M.Natalensis moves between houses and proximate fields. This is an important information for rodent control activities that need to be extended from indoors to fields.

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Shadowlands and dark corners: An anthropology of light and zoonosis

This paper outlines the importance of the house construction and the light for the human and rodent interactions in Upper Guinea (Guinea). To address this interspecies entanglements it is necessary to have in mind how darkness created by furniture and the house design can expand the activity of the animal and the persistence of virus in surfaces. It also highlights the difficulty to localize the trapping of small rodents by kids.

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Fever! The hunt for a new killer virus

This book explores the growth, history and current impact of the Lassa virus. It traces the pathway of the disease, from the first reported case to the current struggles of communities experiencing Lassa and notable points in its history.

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