CGPH FACULTY: Desiree LaBeaud
DATE OF PUBLICATION: March 2015
REGION: Africa
REFERENCE: LaBeaud AD, Pfeil S, Muiruri S, Dahir S, Sutherland LJ, Traylor Z, Gildengorin G, Muchiri EM, Morrill J, Peters CJ, Hise AG, Kazura JW, King CH. Factors associated with severe human rift valley Fever in sangailu, garissa county, kenya. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Mar 12;9(3):e0003548. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003548. eCollection 2015 Mar.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) causes acute, often severe, disease in livestock and humans. To determine the exposure factors and range of symptoms associated with human RVF, we performed a population-based cross-sectional survey in six villages across a 40 km transect in northeastern Kenya. Our results demonstrate that a significant proportion of the population in northeastern Kenya has been infected with RVFV. Village and certain animal husbandry activities were associated with more severe disease. Older age, male gender, herder occupation, killing and butchering livestock, and poor visual acuity were useful markers for increased RVFV infection. Formal vision testing may therefore prove to be a helpful, low-technology tool for RVF screening during epidemics in high-risk rural settings.
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