Cargando…

Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that has profound impact on domestic ruminants and can also be transmitted to humans via infected animal secretions. Urban areas in endemic regions across Africa have susceptible animal and human hosts, dense vector distributions, and source liv...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gerken, Keli Nicole, Maluni, Justinah, Mutuku, Francis Maluki, Ndenga, Bryson Alberto, Mwashee, Luti, Ichura, Caroline, Shaita, Karren, Mwaniki, Makena, Orwa, Stella, Seetah, Krish, LaBeaud, A. Desiree
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9876242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36634153
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010460
_version_ 1784878122994237440
author Gerken, Keli Nicole
Maluni, Justinah
Mutuku, Francis Maluki
Ndenga, Bryson Alberto
Mwashee, Luti
Ichura, Caroline
Shaita, Karren
Mwaniki, Makena
Orwa, Stella
Seetah, Krish
LaBeaud, A. Desiree
author_facet Gerken, Keli Nicole
Maluni, Justinah
Mutuku, Francis Maluki
Ndenga, Bryson Alberto
Mwashee, Luti
Ichura, Caroline
Shaita, Karren
Mwaniki, Makena
Orwa, Stella
Seetah, Krish
LaBeaud, A. Desiree
author_sort Gerken, Keli Nicole
collection PubMed
description Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that has profound impact on domestic ruminants and can also be transmitted to humans via infected animal secretions. Urban areas in endemic regions across Africa have susceptible animal and human hosts, dense vector distributions, and source livestock (often from high risk locations to meet the demand for animal protein). Yet, there has never been a documented urban outbreak of RVF. To understand the likely risk of RVFV introduction to urban communities from their perspective and guide future initiatives, we conducted focus group discussions with slaughterhouse workers, slaughterhouse animal product traders, and livestock owners in Kisumu City and Ukunda Town in Kenya. For added perspective and data triangulation, in-depth interviews were conducted one-on-one with meat inspector veterinarians from selected slaughterhouses. A theoretical framework relevant to introduction, transmission, and potential persistence of RVF in urban areas is presented here. Urban livestock were primarily mentioned as business opportunities, but also had personal sentiment. In addition to slaughtering risks, perceived risk factors included consumption of fresh milk. High risk groups’ knowledge and experience with RVFV and other zoonotic diseases impacted their consideration of personal risk, with consensus towards lower risk in the urban setting compared to rural areas as determination of health risk was said to primarily rely on hygiene practices rather than the slaughtering process. Groups relied heavily on veterinarians to confirm animal health and meat safety, yet veterinarians reported difficulty in accessing RVFV diagnostics. We also identified vulnerable public health regulations including corruption in meat certification outside of the slaughterhouse system, and blood collected during slaughter being used for food and medicine, which could provide a means for direct RVFV community transmission. These factors, when compounded by diverse urban vector breeding habitats and dense human and animal populations, could create suitable conditions for RVFV to arrive an urban center via a viremic imported animal, transmit to locally owned animals and humans, and potentially adapt to secondary vectors and persist in the urban setting. This explorative qualitative study proposes risk pathways and provides initial insight towards determining how urban areas could adapt control measures and plan future initiatives to better understand urban RVF potential.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9876242
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-98762422023-01-26 Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya Gerken, Keli Nicole Maluni, Justinah Mutuku, Francis Maluki Ndenga, Bryson Alberto Mwashee, Luti Ichura, Caroline Shaita, Karren Mwaniki, Makena Orwa, Stella Seetah, Krish LaBeaud, A. Desiree PLoS Negl Trop Dis Research Article Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that has profound impact on domestic ruminants and can also be transmitted to humans via infected animal secretions. Urban areas in endemic regions across Africa have susceptible animal and human hosts, dense vector distributions, and source livestock (often from high risk locations to meet the demand for animal protein). Yet, there has never been a documented urban outbreak of RVF. To understand the likely risk of RVFV introduction to urban communities from their perspective and guide future initiatives, we conducted focus group discussions with slaughterhouse workers, slaughterhouse animal product traders, and livestock owners in Kisumu City and Ukunda Town in Kenya. For added perspective and data triangulation, in-depth interviews were conducted one-on-one with meat inspector veterinarians from selected slaughterhouses. A theoretical framework relevant to introduction, transmission, and potential persistence of RVF in urban areas is presented here. Urban livestock were primarily mentioned as business opportunities, but also had personal sentiment. In addition to slaughtering risks, perceived risk factors included consumption of fresh milk. High risk groups’ knowledge and experience with RVFV and other zoonotic diseases impacted their consideration of personal risk, with consensus towards lower risk in the urban setting compared to rural areas as determination of health risk was said to primarily rely on hygiene practices rather than the slaughtering process. Groups relied heavily on veterinarians to confirm animal health and meat safety, yet veterinarians reported difficulty in accessing RVFV diagnostics. We also identified vulnerable public health regulations including corruption in meat certification outside of the slaughterhouse system, and blood collected during slaughter being used for food and medicine, which could provide a means for direct RVFV community transmission. These factors, when compounded by diverse urban vector breeding habitats and dense human and animal populations, could create suitable conditions for RVFV to arrive an urban center via a viremic imported animal, transmit to locally owned animals and humans, and potentially adapt to secondary vectors and persist in the urban setting. This explorative qualitative study proposes risk pathways and provides initial insight towards determining how urban areas could adapt control measures and plan future initiatives to better understand urban RVF potential. Public Library of Science 2023-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9876242/ /pubmed/36634153 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010460 Text en © 2023 Gerken et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gerken, Keli Nicole
Maluni, Justinah
Mutuku, Francis Maluki
Ndenga, Bryson Alberto
Mwashee, Luti
Ichura, Caroline
Shaita, Karren
Mwaniki, Makena
Orwa, Stella
Seetah, Krish
LaBeaud, A. Desiree
Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title_full Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title_fullStr Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title_short Exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban Rift Valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of Kenya
title_sort exploring potential risk pathways with high risk groups for urban rift valley fever virus introduction, transmission, and persistence in two urban centers of kenya
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9876242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36634153
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010460
work_keys_str_mv AT gerkenkelinicole exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT malunijustinah exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT mutukufrancismaluki exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT ndengabrysonalberto exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT mwasheeluti exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT ichuracaroline exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT shaitakarren exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT mwanikimakena exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT orwastella exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT seetahkrish exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya
AT labeaudadesiree exploringpotentialriskpathwayswithhighriskgroupsforurbanriftvalleyfevervirusintroductiontransmissionandpersistenceintwourbancentersofkenya