Annual outbreaks of Lassa fever have resulted in a public health threat in Nigeria and other endemic countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. While the Lassa Virus (LASV) is endemic in rodent populations, zoonotic spillover to humans causes annual outbreaks. This study reviewed the burden of Lassa fever (LF) in Nigeria between 2020 and 2023 and conducted a cross-sectional survey of Nigerians to evaluate their risk perceptions of LF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe attainment of the global target of zero dog-mediated human rabies by 2030 depends on functional rabies programmes. Nigeria, a rabies-endemic country, and the most populous country in Africa has a very poor rabies control strategy with a score of 1.5 out of 5 based on the Stepwise Approach towards Rabies Elimination (SARE).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOutbreaks of African Swine Fever (ASF) have severe economic implications for Nigeria and result in significant loss of livelihoods. The non-availability of vaccines makes biosecurity the reliable key to reducing ASF outbreaks. This study evaluated preparedness for ASF outbreaks at the farm level among 247 pig farmers randomly selected from Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Kwara, and Oyo states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith over twelve months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, its morbidity and mortality continue to be a critical health threat despite various instituted preventive and control efforts. Information on the multi-regional public perspective of the diseases is limited. Therefore, this study investigated public knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and South Asia (SA) regions of the world.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRabies is an endemic, highly fatal, and vaccine-preventable disease with severe socio-economic implications. Most (99%) human rabies cases are transmitted through dog bites. Children under 15 years account for 40% of all dog bite victims and 35-50% of all rabies deaths.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The COVID-19 vaccine is essential to reduce the global impact of the pandemic. Understanding its acceptance is key to Nigeria's national COVID-19 control strategies.
Methods: Between the 6th and 22nd of January 2021, we conducted a non-probability convenience sampling of 3076 respondents using online and in-person interviews to assess the prevalence and predictors of the COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Nigeria.
The outbreak of highly contagious transboundary rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) in Nigeria has a severe socio-economic impact on the rabbit industry. We present the outbreak investigation and spatial epidemiology of the first confirmed RHD outbreak in Nigeria from a field survey of 28 stochastic outbreaks in Kwara State, north-central Nigeria. A total of 1,639 rabbits died from 2,053 susceptible rabbits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding key socio-demographic variables of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine recipients is crucial to improving its acceptance and Nigeria's COVID-19 control strategy. The survey was conducted as a non-probability cross-sectional survey of 2,936 COVID-19 vaccine recipients in Kwara State. Our findings revealed that 74% ( = 2,161) of the vaccine recipients were older than 40 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRabies is a highly fatal disease that is endemic in Nigeria. The poor community awareness and knowledge of canine rabies have thwarted the realization of zero deaths from dog mediated human rabies. This study aimed to assess the awareness and knowledge of canine rabies in Kwara state.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding domestic dog population dynamics and ecology is crucial to any effective rabies control program. This study was conducted as part of the baseline epidemiological studies necessary for the establishment of the Kwara Rabies Rapid Alert System "KRRAS". This study aimed to determine the dog population structure of Kwara State by assessing the dog ownership, vaccination status, and prevalence of dog bites.
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