Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025207 (Poster 003) | Published: 24 Jul 2025
David Simons1,2,&, Christina Harden1,2, Sunday Eziechina1, Nzube Michael Ifebueme3, Diana Marcus3, Helen Ignatius3, Kate Thompson1, Natalie Imirzian4, David Redding4, Lina Moses5, Sagan Friant1,2
1Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America, 2Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America, 3Cross River Ecology and Health Project, University of Calabar, Nigeria, 4Science Department, The Natural History Museum, United Kingdom, 5Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University, United States of America
&Corresponding author: David Simons, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA, Email: dzs6259@psu.edu
Received: 15 Apr 2024, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 24 Jul 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Seroprevalence, One Health, Zoonotic exposure, Rodent-borne disease, Bayesian analysis, Spatial epidemiology, Nigeria, Risk factors
©David Simons 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: David Simons et al Human seroprevalence and risk factors for Mammarenavirus lassaense exposure in rural Nigeria: The SCAPES baseline cross-sectional study. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8 (ConfProc5):00147. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00147
Nine villages across Benue, Ebonyi, and Cross River states were selected using a structured prioritisation tool. Approximately 20% of households per village were recruited using systematic sampling. One adult male, one adult female, one adolescent, and one child (<12 years) were enrolled per household. LASV IgG was measured from dried blood spots using a commercial ELISA. Questionnaire data on potential exposures were collected, guided by a systematic review of LASV risk factors. Bayesian generalised linear mixed models estimated seroprevalence and associations with exposure variables, accounting for household clustering. Clustering was assessed using Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi* statistics.
From December 2023 to July 2024, 1,926 individuals from 577 households (27% of households in study villages) were enrolled. Overall LASV IgG seroprevalence was 3.3%, with state-level estimates ranging from 1.6% (Ebonyi) to 5.2% (Cross River). Rodent exposure was nearly universal (94%), yet behaviours to limit contact varied. No consistent demographic, behavioural, or environmental risk factors were associated with seropositivity. Age-seroprevalence patterns varied markedly across villages. Spatial analyses did not identify consistent hotspots, and household-level seropositivity showed no significant spatial autocorrelation.
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