Over 100 Years of Rift Valley Fever: A Patchwork of Data on Pathogen Spread and Spillover

Bron, Gebbiena M.; Strimbu, Kathryn; Cecilia, Hélène; Lerch, Anita; Moore, Sean M.; Tran, Quan Minh; Perkins, T. Alex; Bosch, Quirine A. ten

doi:10.3390/pathogens10060708

Cited by 34 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…Gap 4: Data challenges related to bias based on limited study designs and inconsistent reporting. A systematic review by Bron and colleagues [188] has summarized the patchwork of data collected on RVFV epidemiology over the last century, and has highlighted the lack of standardized reporting as the major challenge in comparing data between locations. In our current systematic review, which focused solely on studies from the last two decades, we confirm that uneven reporting remains a significant problem.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

Gerken

LaBeaud

Mandi

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a lethal threat to humans and livestock in many parts of Africa, Arabia, and the Indian Ocean. This systematic review’s objective was to consolidate understanding of RVFV epidemiology during 1999-2021 and highlight knowledge gaps relevant to plans for human vaccine trials. Methodology/Principal Findings: The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020221622). Reports of RVFV infection or exposure among humans, animals, and/or vectors in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian Ocean during the period January 1999 to June 2021 were eligible for inclusion. Online databases were searched for publications, and supplemental materials were recovered from official reports and research colleagues. Exposures were classified into five groups: 1) acute human RVF cases, 2) acute animal cases, 3) human RVFV sero-surveys, 4) animal sero-surveys, and 5) insect infections. Human risk factors, circulating RVFV lineages, and surveillance methods were also tabulated. In meta-analysis of risks, summary odds ratios were computed using random-effects modeling. 1104 unique human or animal RVFV transmission events were reported in 39 countries during 1999-2021. Outbreaks among humans or animals occurred at rates of 5.8/year and 12.4/year, respectively, with Mauritania, Madagascar, Kenya, South Africa, and Sudan having the most human outbreak years. Men had greater odds of RVFV infection than women, and animal contact, butchering, milking, and handling aborted material were significantly associated with greater odds of exposure. Animal risk was linked to location, proximity to water, and exposure to other herds or wildlife. RVFV was detected in a variety of mosquito vectors during interepidemic periods, confirming ongoing transmission. Conclusions/Significance: With broad variability in surveillance, case finding, survey design, and RVFV case confirmation, combined with uncertainty about populations-at-risk, there were inconsistent results from location to location. However, it was evident that RVFV transmission is expanding its range and frequency. Gaps assessment indicated the need to harmonize human and animal surveillance and improve diagnostics and genotyping. Given the frequency of RVFV outbreaks, human vaccination has strong potential to mitigate the impact of this now widely endemic disease.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

Gerken

LaBeaud

Mandi

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A systematic review by Bron and colleagues [188] has summarized the patchwork of data collected on RVFV epidemiology over the last century, and has highlighted the lack of PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES standardized reporting as the major challenge in comparing data between locations. In our current systematic review, which focused solely on studies from the last two decades, we confirm that uneven reporting remains a significant problem.…”

Section: Gap 4: Data Challenges Related To Bias Based On Limited Stud...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a lethal threat to humans and livestock in many parts of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian Ocean. This systematic review’s objective was to consolidate understanding of RVFV epidemiology during 1999–2021 and highlight knowledge gaps relevant to plans for human vaccine trials. Methodology/Principal findings The review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020221622). Reports of RVFV infection or exposure among humans, animals, and/or vectors in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian Ocean during the period January 1999 to June 2021 were eligible for inclusion. Online databases were searched for publications, and supplemental materials were recovered from official reports and research colleagues. Exposures were classified into five groups: 1) acute human RVF cases, 2) acute animal cases, 3) human RVFV sero-surveys, 4) animal sero-surveys, and 5) arthropod infections. Human risk factors, circulating RVFV lineages, and surveillance methods were also tabulated. In meta-analysis of risks, summary odds ratios were computed using random-effects modeling. 1104 unique human or animal RVFV transmission events were reported in 39 countries during 1999–2021. Outbreaks among humans or animals occurred at rates of 5.8/year and 12.4/year, respectively, with Mauritania, Madagascar, Kenya, South Africa, and Sudan having the most human outbreak years. Men had greater odds of RVFV infection than women, and animal contact, butchering, milking, and handling aborted material were significantly associated with greater odds of exposure. Animal infection risk was linked to location, proximity to water, and exposure to other herds or wildlife. RVFV was detected in a variety of mosquito vectors during interepidemic periods, confirming ongoing transmission. Conclusions/Significance With broad variability in surveillance, case finding, survey design, and RVFV case confirmation, combined with uncertainty about populations-at-risk, there were inconsistent results from location to location. However, it was evident that RVFV transmission is expanding its range and frequency. Gaps assessment indicated the need to harmonize human and animal surveillance and improve diagnostics and genotyping. Given the frequency of RVFV outbreaks, human vaccination has strong potential to mitigate the impact of this now widely endemic disease.

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“…mosquitoes, making its establishment possible in a wide range of ecosystems (Linthicum et al, 2016). While sheep are generally believed to be the most important host species (Bird et al, 2009;Clark et al, 2018;Bron et al, 2021), efforts fall short of quantifying livestock hosts relative contribution to RVFV transmission.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity of Rift Valley fever virus transmission potential across livestock hosts, quantified through a model-based analysis of host viral load and vector infection

Cecilia

Vriens

Kortekaas

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral, vector-borne, zoonotic disease. The relative contributions of livestock species to RVFV transmission has not been previously quantified. To estimate their potential to transmit the virus over the course of their infection, we 1) fitted a within-host model to viral RNA and infectious virus measures, obtained daily from infected lambs, calves, and young goats, 2) estimated the relationship between vertebrate host infectious titers and probability to infect mosquitoes, and 3) estimated the net infectiousness of each host species over the duration of their infectious periods, taking into account different survival outcomes for lambs. Our results indicate that the efficiency of viral replication, along with the lifespan of infectious particles, could be sources of heterogeneity between hosts. For similar infectious titers, we found that infection rates in Aedes spp. vectors were significantly higher than in Culex spp. vectors. Consequently, for Aedes infections, we estimated the net infectiousness of lambs to be 2.93 (median) and 3.65 times higher than that of calves and goats, respectively. Among lambs, individuals which eventually died from the infection were 1.93 times more infectious than lambs recovering. Beyond infectiousness, the relative contributions of host species to transmission depend on local ecological factors, including relative abundances and vector host-feeding preferences. Quantifying these contributions will ultimately help design efficient, targeted, surveillance and vaccination strategies.

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Over 100 Years of Rift Valley Fever: A Patchwork of Data on Pathogen Spread and Spillover

Cited by 34 publications

References 50 publications

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

Paving the way for human vaccination against Rift Valley fever virus: A systematic literature review of RVFV epidemiology from 1999 to 2021

Heterogeneity of Rift Valley fever virus transmission potential across livestock hosts, quantified through a model-based analysis of host viral load and vector infection

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