ArticleEcoHealth2026
Perceived Public Health Risks Associated with Bats on a Southwest Indian Ocean Island.
Article in EcoHealth, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Risk perception is central to wildlife disease management and informs both public health and conservation strategies. Understanding perceptions of wildlife-related health risks helps public health professionals and conservationists develop effective communication strategies to foster both public safety and species conservation. Reunion Island is a Southwestern Indian Ocean island where human-bat interactions are common, especially with the urban-adapted endemic species Mormopterus francoismoutoui. Concerns about olfactory nuisance and respiratory health impacts resulting from these interactions make perceptions of bat-related sanitary risks especially salient. This study surveyed 768 residents to explore how general opinions and past experiences with bats influence perceived health risks. The mean bat-related health risk perception index (RPI) was 2.87 ± 0.03 on a 5-point scale. Perceived risk was significantly higher among individuals with negative opinions (3.14 ± 0.05) compared to neutral (2.95 ± 0.03) and positive opinions (2.56 ± 0.05; p < 0.001). A similar pattern was observed for past experiences, with negative experiences associated with the highest perceived risk (p < 0.001). Island natives (OR = 2.00) and social interactions about bat-related diseases (OR = 1.49) were the strongest predictors of higher perceived risk. In contrast, trust in science reduced perceived risk (OR = 0.75), while younger respondents reported slightly higher risk perception. These findings highlight the importance of social information networks and scientific trust in shaping perceptions, underscoring the need for clear, targeted, and evidence-based risk communication to promote coexistence and mitigate heightened fears.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41963676What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.