{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T16:30:37Z","timestamp":1775147437727,"version":"3.50.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0009108","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,11]],"date-time":"2021-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613001600000}}],"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]],"date-time":"2021-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002701","name":"Ministry of Education","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2018R1D1A1A02049991"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2018R1D1A1A02049991"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002701","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Lassa fever (LF) is one of the most devastating rodent-borne diseases in West Africa, causing thousands of deaths annually. The geographical expansion of LF is also a concern; cases were recently identified in Ghana and Benin. Previous ecological studies have suggested that high natural-host biodiversity reduces the likelihood of spillover transmission of rodent-borne diseases, by suppressing the activities of reservoir species. However, the association of biodiversity with the geographical expansion of LF has not been the subject of epidemiological studies.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec002\"><jats:title>Methodology\/Principal findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>We conducted a spatial analysis based on sociodemographic, geographical, and ecological data, and found that higher rodent species richness was significantly associated with a lower risk of LF emergence in West Africa from 2008 to 2017 (Odds Ratio = 0.852, 95% Credible Interval = 0.745\u20130.971).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"sec003\"><jats:title>Conclusions\/Significance<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results reinforce the importance of the \u2018One Health\u2019 approach by demonstrating that a high level of biodiversity could benefit human health.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0009108","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]],"date-time":"2021-02-01T22:14:11Z","timestamp":1612217651000},"page":"e0009108","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["An exploration of the protective effect of rodent species richness on the geographical expansion of Lassa fever in West Africa"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1000-2187","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kyung-Duk","family":"Min","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jusun","family":"Hwang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8575-8002","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria Cristina","family":"Schneider","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1805-6312","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yeonghwa","family":"So","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7348-3240","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ju-Yeun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4085-1494","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sung-il","family":"Cho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pntd.0009108.ref001","unstructured":"Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 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