Resources

Evidence that rodent control strategies ought to be improved to enhance food security and reduce the risk of rodent-borne illnesses within subsistence farming villages in the plague/endemic West Nile region, Uganda

This resource presents a survey of 37 households from 17 subsistence farming villages within the West Nile region of Uganda. This revealed that rodents cause both pre- and post-harvest damage to crops. Evidence of rodent access to stored foods was reported in conjunction with each of the reported storage practices, and the paper suggests that current efforts are inadequate for effectively reducing rodent abundance in homes.

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A hospital epidemic of Lassa fever in Zorzor, Liberia

This resource describes the epidemic of Lassa fever at a missionary hospital in Zorzor, Liberia, and clinical features and diagnostics. It then goes on to examine both the index case and the subsequent search for further cases. 

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Social consequences of Ebola containment measures in Liberia

This study of quarantine during the Ebola epidemic in Liberia also shows that state-enforced quarantine, with a mandatory prohibition of movement, raised condemnation, strengthened stigmatization and created serious socio-economic distress.

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Community-centered responses to Ebola in urban Liberia: The view from below

The article presents information on community-based epidemic control priorities and identifies innovative local strategies for containing EVD in Liberia. The text also offers some suggestions from participants like the integration of families in the surveillance system and the declaration of National Memorial Day among others.

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Domestic cats and dogs create a landscape of fear for pest rodents around rural homesteads

This paper found that the presence of cats and dogs at the same homestead significantly reduced activity and increased ’giving up densities’ (i.e. increased perception of foraging cost) of pest rodent species. The results suggest that pest rodent activity can be discouraged through the presence of domestic predators. When different types of predator are present together, they likely create a heightened landscape of fear for foraging rodents.

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Risk maps of Lassa fever in West Africa

With the aim of gaining more information to control this disease, this paper carries out a spatial analysis of Lassa fever data from human cases and infected rodent hosts covering the period 1965–2007. 

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