Publications by authors named "Danny Asogun"

Background: The standard of care for Lassa fever is the use of ribavirin with supportive therapy. There is little information on the course of viremia and its relationship with clinical outcomes in patients treated with ribavirin.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of virologic and clinical parameters of 152 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction-confirmed Lassa fever cases admitted and treated with ribavirin therapy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lassa fever, recognized by the WHO as a potential pandemic threat, is a disease with significant health-economic impacts, particularly in West Africa, where it causes millions of infections and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) each year.
  • A study models vaccination strategies and estimates that a preventive campaign targeting endemic regions could save over $20 million in lost DALY value and around $128 million in societal costs over 10 years.
  • In the scenario of a new variant, 'Lassa-X', emerging, effective 100 Days Mission vaccination could significantly reduce the potential health burden, illustrating the importance of vaccination in managing Lassa fever and preparing for future pandemics.
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Lassa fever is a zoonotic disease identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having pandemic potential. This study estimates the health-economic burden of Lassa fever throughout West Africa and projects impacts of a series of vaccination campaigns. We also model the emergence of "Lassa-X" - a hypothetical pandemic Lassa virus variant - and project impacts of achieving 100 Days Mission vaccination targets.

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In 2016, WHO designated Lassa fever a priority disease for epidemic preparedness as part of the WHO Blueprint for Action to Prevent Epidemics. One aspect of preparedness is to promote development of effective medical countermeasures (ie, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines) against Lassa fever. Diagnostic testing for Lassa fever has important limitations and key advancements are needed to ensure rapid and accurate diagnosis.

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Infection with Lassa virus (LASV) can cause Lassa fever, a haemorrhagic illness with an estimated fatality rate of 29.7%, but causes no or mild symptoms in many individuals. Here, to investigate whether human genetic variation underlies the heterogeneity of LASV infection, we carried out genome-wide association studies (GWAS) as well as seroprevalence surveys, human leukocyte antigen typing and high-throughput variant functional characterization assays.

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Background: For effective Public Health measures, factors that influence Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) need to be understood. In this paper, we document the relationship between levels of education on the KAP towards COVID-19 among the population of Edo State, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional KAP questionnaire was delivered across 13 communities.

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Lassa fever (LF) is a potentially lethal viral haemorrhagic infection of humans caused by Lassa mammarenavirus (LASV). It is an important endemic zoonotic disease in West Africa with growing evidence for increasing frequency and sizes of outbreaks. Phylogeographic and molecular epidemiology methods have projected expansion of the Lassa fever endemic zone in the context of future global change.

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We phylogenetically compared sequences of the zoonotic Lassa virus (LASV) obtained from rodents in seven localities across the highly endemic Edo and Ondo States within Nigeria. Sequencing 1641 nt from the S segment of the virus genome, we resolved clades within lineage II that were either limited to Ebudin and Okhuesan in Edo state (2g-beta) or along Owo-Okeluse-Ifon in Ondo state (2g-gamma). We also found clades within Ekpoma, a relatively large cosmopolitan town in Edo state, that extended into other localities within Edo (2g-alpha) and Ondo (2g-delta).

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Background: Managing Lassa fever (LF) patients is challenging because of the complexity of this life-threatening infectious disease, the necessary isolation measures, and the limited resources in countries where it is endemic. Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is a promising low-cost imaging technique that may help in guiding the management of patients.

Methods: We conducted this observational study at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Nigeria.

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Background: Lassa fever (LF), a haemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa fever virus (LASV), is endemic in West Africa and causes 5000 fatalities every year. The true prevalence and incidence rates of LF are unknown as infections are often asymptomatic, clinical presentations are varied, and surveillance systems are not robust. The aim of the Enable Lassa research programme is to estimate the incidences of LASV infection and LF disease in five West African countries.

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Article Synopsis
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in current public health emergency preparedness frameworks, which inadequately address various social, economic, and ecological factors.
  • The One Health approach, which examines connections among humans, animals, and ecosystems, offers a useful perspective for improving these assessment frameworks.
  • A radical increase in ambition is necessary for health security assessments to encompass complex systems and prioritize core One Health principles, while also evaluating interventions based on their holistic benefits and trade-offs.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the critical role of ethics and community engagement in designing and conducting clinical research during infectious disease outbreaks where no vaccine or treatment already exists. In reviewing current practices across Africa, we distinguish between three distinct roles for community engagement in clinical research that are often conflated: 1) the importance of community engagement for identifying and honouring cultural sensitivities; 2) the importance of recognising the socio-political context in which the research is proposed; and 3) the importance of understanding what is in the interest of communities recruited to research according to their own views and values. By making these distinctions, we show that current practice of clinical research could draw on anthropology in ways which are sometimes unnecessary to solicit local cultural values, overlook the importance of socio-political contexts and wider societal structures within which it works, potentially serving to reinforce unjust political or social regimes, and threaten to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of the research.

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We explain research gaps on Monkeypox (MPX) virus epidemiology in endemic countries and present hypotheses for the recent increase of MPX cases in West Africa as a possible explanation for the current epidemic in Europe, America, and Australia. The detection of >400 MPX cases in less than a month in May 2022, across many countries underscores the epidemic potential of MPX in humans and demonstrates several important research gaps. First, the true burden of MPX in West and Central Africa is poorly understood, although it is critical for prevention and control of future outbreaks.

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Sensitive and specific serological tests are mandatory for epidemiological studies evaluating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) prevalence as well as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) morbidity and mortality rates. The accuracy of results is challenged by antibody waning after convalescence and by cross-reactivity induced by previous infections with other pathogens. By employing a patented platform technology based on capturing antigen-antibody complexes with a solid-phase-bound Fcγ receptor (FcγR) and truncated nucleocapsid protein as the antigen, two SARS-CoV-2 IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), featuring different serum and antigen dilutions, were developed.

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Background: There is anecdotal evidence for Lassa virus persistence in body fluids. We aimed to investigate various body fluids after recovery from acute Lassa fever, describe the dynamics of Lassa virus RNA load in seminal fluid, and assess the infectivity of seminal fluid.

Methods: In this prospective, longitudinal, cohort study we collected plasma, urine, saliva, lacrimal fluid, vaginal fluid, and seminal fluid from Lassa fever survivors from Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State, Nigeria.

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Objective: To estimate the prevalence of depression and anxiety and identify associated risk factors in hospitalised persons with confirmed COVID-19 in Edo, Nigeria.

Design: A multicentre cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Patients with COVID-19 hospitalised at the three government-designated treatment and isolation centres in Edo State, Nigeria.

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Background: The unprecedented and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in African countries' health systems. The impact of shifted focus on COVID-19 for the past 2 years on routine health services, especially those for the epidemics of Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria, have been dramatic in both quantity and quality.

Methods: In this article, we reflect on the COVID-19 related disruptions on the Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria routine health services across Africa.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm health systems across the globe. We aimed to assess the readiness of hospitals in Nigeria to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Method: Between April and October 2020, hospital representatives completed a modified World Health Organisation (WHO) COVID-19 hospital readiness checklist consisting of 13 components and 124 indicators.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers found that the LARGE gene is crucial for how Lassa virus binds and enters human cells, linking it to natural selection in populations in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba.
  • They suggest that the rise of diseases like Lassa fever is more about increased detection capabilities than the emergence of new viruses, indicating humans may have been exposed to these pathogens for longer than thought.
  • This groundwork inspired the Sentinel project, aimed at early detection and characterization of pathogens globally through its core strategies of detection, information sharing, and empowering public health systems to enhance pandemic preparedness.
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Lassa fever (LF), a zoonotic illness, represents a public health burden in West African countries where the Lassa virus (LASV) circulates among rodents. Human exposure hinges significantly on LASV ecology, which is in turn shaped by various parameters such as weather seasonality and even virus and rodent-host genetics. Furthermore, human behaviour, despite playing a key role in the zoonotic nature of the disease, critically affects either the spread or control of human-to-human transmission.

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Background: Ebola virus disease ravaged three West African countries in the wake of 2014 which was seen as the deadliest Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in history. Several lessons were taken out of the West African outbreak one of which is the lack of preparedness by countries in the region.

Materials And Methods: This paper looked at the mistakes of the West African outbreak and reports how such mistakes were corrected in the current outbreak going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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