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Awoniyi AM, Barreto AM, Argibay HD, Santana JO, Palma FAG, Riviere-Cinnamond A, Dobigny G, Bertherat E, Ferguson L, Belmain S, Costa F. Systematic surveillance tools to reduce rodent pests in disadvantaged urban areas can empower communities and improve public health. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4503. [PMID: 38402250 PMCID: PMC10894258 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55203-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Rodents are notorious pests, known for transmitting major public health diseases and causing agricultural and economic losses. The lack of site-specific and national standardised rodent surveillance in several disadvantaged communities has rendered interventions targeted towards rodent control as often ineffective. Here, by using the example from a pilot case-study in the Bahamas, we present a unique experience wherein, through multidisciplinary and community engagement, we simultaneously developed a standardised national surveillance protocol, and performed two parallel but integrated activities: (1) eight days of theoretical and practical training of selected participants; and (2) a three-month post-training pilot rodent surveillance in the urban community of Over-the-Hill, Nassau, The Bahamas. To account for social and environmental conditions influencing rodent proliferation in the Bahamas, we engaged selected influential community members through a semi-structured interview and gathered additional site-specific information using a modified Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) exterior and interior rodent evaluation form, along with other validated instruments such as tracking plates and snap trapping, to test and establish a standardised site-specific rodent surveillance protocol tailored for the Bahamas. Our engagement with community members highlighted poor disposal of animal and human food, irregular garbage collection, unapproved refuse storage, lack of accessible dumpsters, poor bulk waste management, ownership problems and structural deficiencies as major factors fuelling rodent proliferation in the study areas. Accordingly, results from our pilot survey using active rodent signs (that is, the presence of rodent runs, burrows, faecal material or gnawed material) as a proxy of rodent infestation in a generalized linear model confirmed that the variables earlier identified during the community engagement program as significantly correlated with rodent activities (and capturing) across the study areas. The successful implementation of the novel site-specific protocol by trained participants, along with the correlation of their findings with those recorded during the community engagement program, underscores its suitability and applicability in disadvantaged urban settings. This experience should serve as a reference for promoting a standardised protocol for monitoring rodent activities in many disadvantaged urban settings of the Global South, while also fostering a holistic understanding of rodent proliferation. Through this pilot case-study, we advocate for the feasibility of developing sustainable rodent control interventions that are acceptable to both local communities and public authorities, particularly through the involvement of a multidisciplinary team of professionals and community members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adedayo Michael Awoniyi
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40110-040, Brazil.
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40170-115, Brazil.
| | - Ana Maria Barreto
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40170-115, Brazil
| | - Hernan Dario Argibay
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40110-040, Brazil
| | | | | | - Ana Riviere-Cinnamond
- Data Management, Analytics and Products (DMAP), Health Information and Risk Assessment Unit (HIM), PAHO Health Emergencies, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Gauthier Dobigny
- French Institute of Research for Sustainable Development (IRD), UMR CBGP, Montpellier, France
- Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, Plague Unit, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Eric Bertherat
- Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases, World Health Organization WHO, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Luther Ferguson
- Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS), Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Nassau City, Bahamas
| | - Steven Belmain
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Federico Costa
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40110-040, Brazil.
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, 40170-115, Brazil.
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT06511, USA.
- Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK.
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Awoniyi AM, Venegas-Vargas C, Souza FN, Zeppelini CG, Hacker KP, Carvalho-Pereira T, Marins CL, de Santana MC, Pertile AC, Begon M, Ko AI, Diggle PJ, Reis MG, Childs JE, da Silva EM, Costa F, Khalil H. Population dynamics of synanthropic rodents after a chemical and infrastructural intervention in an urban low-income community. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10109. [PMID: 35710879 PMCID: PMC9203450 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14474-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Synanthropic rodents are ubiquitous in low-income communities and pose risks for human health, as they are generally resistant to control programs. However, few or no studies have evaluated the long-term effect of chemical and infrastructural interventions on rodent population dynamics, especially in urban low-income communities, or evaluated the potential recovery of their population following interventions. We conducted a longitudinal study in a low-income community in the city of Salvador (BA, Brazil) to characterize the effect of interventions (chemical and infrastructural) on the dynamics of rodent population, and documented the post-intervention recovery of their population. We evaluated the degree of rodent infestation in 117 households/sampling points over three years (2014-2017), using tracking plates, a proxy for rodent abundance/activity. We reported a significant lower rodent activity/abundance after the chemical and infrastructural interventions (Z = -4.691 (p < 0.001)), with track plate positivity decreasing to 28% from 70% after and before interventions respectively. Therefore, the combination of chemical and infrastructural interventions significantly decreased the degree of rodent infestation in the study area. In addition, no rodent population rebound was recorded until almost a year post-intervention, and the post-intervention infestation level did not attain the pre-intervention level all through the study. Moreover, among pre-treatment conditions, access to sewer rather than the availability of food was the variable most closely associated with household rodent infestation. Our study indicates that Integrated Pest Management (IPM)-approaches are more effective in reducing rodent infestation than the use of a single method. Our findings will be useful in providing guidance for long-term rodent control programs, especially in urban low-income communities.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cristina Venegas-Vargas
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Fabio Neves Souza
- Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
- Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Canela, Salvador, 40110-040, Brazil
| | - Caio Graco Zeppelini
- Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil
| | - Kathryn P Hacker
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48197, USA
| | - Ticiana Carvalho-Pereira
- Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Canela, Salvador, 40110-040, Brazil
| | - Catarina Lobo Marins
- Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Canela, Salvador, 40110-040, Brazil
| | - Mayara Carvalho de Santana
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
| | - Arsinoê Cristina Pertile
- Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
| | - Michael Begon
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK
| | - Albert I Ko
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Peter J Diggle
- Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK
| | - Mitermayer G Reis
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
- Bahia Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Bahia, Praça Conselheiro Almeida Couto, s/n - Largo do Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador, 40025-010, Brazil
| | - James E Childs
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Eduardo Mendes da Silva
- Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil
- National Institute of Science and Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution (INCT IN-TREE), Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Federico Costa
- Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Ondina, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil
- Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde, Rua Waldemar Falcão, 121, Salvador Bahia, Brazil
- Institute of Collective Health, Federal University of Bahia, Canela, Salvador, 40110-040, Brazil
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
- Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK
| | - Hussein Khalil
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies (VFM), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden.
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