Institute of Health and Environment, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, United States of America.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Feb 1;15(2):e0009108. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009108. eCollection 2021 Feb.
Lassa fever (LF) is one of the most devastating rodent-borne diseases in West Africa, causing thousands of deaths annually. The geographical expansion of LF is also a concern; cases were recently identified in Ghana and Benin. Previous ecological studies have suggested that high natural-host biodiversity reduces the likelihood of spillover transmission of rodent-borne diseases, by suppressing the activities of reservoir species. However, the association of biodiversity with the geographical expansion of LF has not been the subject of epidemiological studies.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a spatial analysis based on sociodemographic, geographical, and ecological data, and found that higher rodent species richness was significantly associated with a lower risk of LF emergence in West Africa from 2008 to 2017 (Odds Ratio = 0.852, 95% Credible Interval = 0.745-0.971).
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results reinforce the importance of the 'One Health' approach by demonstrating that a high level of biodiversity could benefit human health.
拉沙热（LF）是西非最具破坏性的啮齿动物传播疾病之一，每年导致数千人死亡。LF 的地理扩张也是一个令人关注的问题；最近在加纳和贝宁发现了病例。先前的生态研究表明，高的天然宿主生物多样性通过抑制储存物种的活动，降低了啮齿动物传播疾病溢出传播的可能性。然而，生物多样性与 LF 地理扩张的关联尚未成为流行病学研究的主题。
方法/主要发现：我们基于社会人口统计学、地理和生态数据进行了空间分析，发现 2008 年至 2017 年，较高的啮齿动物物种丰富度与西非 LF 出现的风险降低显著相关（优势比=0.852，95%可信区间=0.745-0.971）。
结论/意义：研究结果通过证明高水平的生物多样性有益于人类健康，强调了“同一健康”方法的重要性。
