Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025348 (Oral 110) | Published: 15 Aug 2025
Ekaete Alice Tobin1,2,3,4,&, Amen Onome Ahabue5,4, Polycarp Okakah4, Emmanuel Okogbenin4,6, Henry Edeko1, Anthony Afolabi4, Barbara Eshun4, Ola Egbuta3, Danny Akhere Asogun1,2,3,4
1Institute of Viral and Emergent Pathogens Control and Research, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria, 2Department of Community Medicine, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria, 3Department of Community Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria, 4CEPI -ISTH. Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria, 5Department of English, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria, 6Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin-City, Nigeria
&Corresponding author: Ekaete A. Tobin, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria. Email: Ekaete.tobin@gmail.com
Received: 11 Jun 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 15 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Geospatial analysis, Lassa fever, Hotspots, Vulnerability
©Ekaete Alice Tobin et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Ekaete Alice Tobin et al., Hotspot mapping and vulnerability assessment to support participant recruitment for the CEPI ENABLE 1.5 Lassa fever prospective cohort study in Edo State, Nigeria. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00110. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00110
Careful selection of recruitment areas is essential for representative sampling in epidemiological research. The ENABLE 1.5 muti-country study aims to assess malaria and Lassa fever (LF) co-infection and LF severity scoring. Prior to the study commencement in Edo State, Nigeria, a mapping exercise was conducted from December 2023 to June 2024 to define the sampling area. This paper outlines the methodology for selecting study sites for participant recruitment.
LF case data from 2020 to 2023 were retrospectively analyzed to identify three high-burden Local Government Areas (LGAs). In collaboration with Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers and community liaison officers, three settlements per LGA were shortlisted based on cumulative case counts, accessibility, previous research presence, mapping feasibility, and insights from ENABLE 1.0. One settlement per LGA was selected for detailed mapping and divided into quarters for micro-level analysis.
Index case addresses were georeferenced and validated against ward boundaries. Field teams verified occupancy status and collected GPS coordinates, which were plotted on high-resolution satellite imagery using Google Earth to generate preliminary hotspot maps. A standardized checklist was used to assess environmental and socioeconomic vulnerability across quarters. Key indicators included housing condition, sanitation, food storage, fencing, road access, and proximity to refuse sites or rodent habitats. Each quarter received a composite vulnerability score. In each settlement, the quarter with the highest combined LF case density and vulnerability score was designated as the recruitment cluster. Household enumeration documented structure counts and population data disaggregated by age and sex.
Four recruitment clusters were identified. Enumeration of 2,026 households yielded 12,471 individuals. Frequent vulnerabilities included poor housing, unprotected food drying, and unregulated waste disposal. Spatial analysis revealed strong overlap between vulnerability hotspots and LF case clusters.
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