ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2022
An unusually long Rift valley fever inter-epizootic period in Zambia: Evidence for enzootic virus circulation and risk for disease outbreak.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contemporary epidemiological data of Rift Valley fever virus in humans, mosquitoes and other animal species in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Veterinary medicine and science · 2023Pooled it
- Epidemiological and molecular characterization of Rift Valley fever outbreak in livestock in Burundi, May - November 2022.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Rift Valley fever: A zoonotic disease with global potential.Open veterinary journal · 2025Review
- Evidence of human exposure and associated risk factors to Rift Valley fever in selected districts of Central and Western Zambia.PloS one · 2025Article
- Rift Valley fever and invisible women.Research directions. One health · 2025Article
- The socioeconomic impacts of Rift Valley fever: A rapid review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Review
- Expanding diversity of bunyaviruses identified in mosquitoes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Ecological Niche Modeling ofViruses · 2023Article
- Ecological Niche Modelling Approaches: Challenges and Applications in Vector-Borne Diseases.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Review
- Natural hosts and animal models for Rift Valley fever phlebovirus.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Review
- Seroprevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Rift Valley Fever in Livestock from Three Ecological Zones of Malawi.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Rift valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne disease of animals and humans. Although RVF outbreaks are usually reported at 5-15-year intervals in sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia has experienced an unusually long inter-epizootic/-epidemic period of more than three decades. However, serological evidence of RVF virus (RVFV) infection in domestic ruminants during this period underscores the need for comprehensive investigation of the mechanisms of virus perpetuation and disease emergence. Mosquitoes (n = 16,778) captured from eight of the ten provinces of Zambia between April 2014 and May 2019 were pooled (n = 961) and screened for RVFV genome by a pan-phlebo RT-PCR assay. Aedes mosquito pools (n = 85) were further screened by nested RT-PCR assay. Sera from sheep (n = 13), goats (n = 259) and wild ungulates (n = 285) were screened for RVFV antibodies by ELISA while genome detection in pooled sera (n = 276) from domestic (n = 248) and wild ungulates (n = 37) was performed by real-time RT-PCR assay. To examine the association between the long inter-epizootic period and climatic variables, we examined El Niño-Southern Oscillation indices, precipitation anomalies, and normalized difference vegetation index. We then derived RVF risk maps by exploring climatic variables that would favor emergence of primary RVFV vectors. While no RVFV genome could be detected in pooled mosquito and serum samples, seroprevalence was significantly high (OR = 8.13, 95% CI [4.63-14.25]) in wild ungulates (33.7%; 96/285) compared to domestic ruminants (5.6%; 16/272). Retrospective analysis of RVF epizootics in Zambia showed a positive correlation between anomalous precipitation (La Niña) and disease emergence. On risk mapping, whilst northern and eastern parts of the country were at high risk, domestic ruminant population density was low (< 21 animals/km2) in these areas compared to low risk areas (>21 animals/km2). Besides evidence of silent circulation of RVFV and the risk of disease emergence in some areas, wildlife may play a role in the maintenance of RVFV in Zambia.
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