Dr Jesse Bonwitt jesse.bonwitt@durham.ac.uk
Honorary Associate
Rat-atouille: A Mixed Method Study to Characterize Rodent Hunting and Consumption in the Context of Lassa Fever
Bonwitt, Jesse; Kelly, Ann H.; Ansumana, Rashid; Agbla, Schadrac; Sahr, Foday; Saez, Almudena Mari; Borchert, Matthias; Kock, Richard; Fichet-Calvet, Elisabeth
Authors
Ann H. Kelly
Rashid Ansumana
Schadrac Agbla
Foday Sahr
Almudena Mari Saez
Matthias Borchert
Richard Kock
Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet
Abstract
Lassa fever is a zoonotic hemorrhagic illness predominant in areas across Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and southern Mali. The reservoir of Lassa virus is the multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis), a highly commensal species in West Africa. Primary transmission to humans occurs through direct or indirect contact with rodent body fluids such as urine, feces, saliva, or blood. Our research draws together qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a fuller and more nuanced perspective on these varied points of human–animal contact. In this article, we focus on the hunting, preparation, and consumption of rodents as possible routes of exposure in Bo, Sierra Leone. We found that the consumption of rodents, including the reservoir species, is widespread and does not neatly tally against generational or gender lines. Further, we found that the reasons for rodent consumption are multifactorial, including taste preferences, food security, and opportunistic behavior. We argue that on certain topics, such as rodent consumption, establishing trust with communities, and using qualitative research methods, is key to investigate sensitive issues and situate them in their wider context. To conclude, we recommend ways to refine sensitization campaigns to account for these socio-cultural contexts.
Citation
Bonwitt, J., Kelly, A. H., Ansumana, R., Agbla, S., Sahr, F., Saez, A. M., …Fichet-Calvet, E. (2016). Rat-atouille: A Mixed Method Study to Characterize Rodent Hunting and Consumption in the Context of Lassa Fever. EcoHealth, 13(2), 234-247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-016-1098-8
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Dec 15, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Feb 19, 2016 |
Publication Date | Feb 19, 2016 |
Deposit Date | Jun 7, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 8, 2016 |
Journal | EcoHealth |
Print ISSN | 1612-9202 |
Publisher | Springer |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 13 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 234-247 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-016-1098-8 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1402596 |
Files
Journal Article
(1 Mb)
PDF
Published Journal Article
(1 Mb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Published Journal Article (Advance online version)
(1 Mb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Advance online version © The Author(s) 2016 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
You might also like
Major Emerging Fungal Diseases of Reptiles and Amphibians
(2023)
Journal Article
Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2019
(2021)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search