{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T20:48:39Z","timestamp":1792788519494,"version":"4.5.0"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779926400000}}],"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779321600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"NSF\u2010NIH\u2010NIFA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease Award","award":["2208034"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2208034"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000268","name":"BBSRC","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["BB\/X005364\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BB\/X005364\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000268","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Lassa virus (LASV) causes significant morbidity in West Africa, yet vaccine trial planning is hampered by a lack of high-resolution, community-level seroprevalence data. We aimed to characterize the fine-scale spatial and demographic heterogeneity of LASV exposure in rural Nigeria to inform site selection strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We conducted a cross-sectional serosurvey across nine villages in three Nigerian states (Benue, Ebonyi, and Cross River). We recruited 1,874 individuals and tested for LASV IgG using the highly specific Panadea LASV IgG ELISA. We employed Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate seroprevalence and investigated 21 pre-specified demographic, environmental, and behavioral risk factors for association with seropositivity. Village-specific transmission dynamics were explored using Bayesian generalized additive models for age-stratified seroprevalence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The overall model-based IgG seroprevalence was 3.2% (95% CrI: 2.5\u20134.0%). We observed marked fine-scale heterogeneity, with village-level estimates ranging from 0.8% to 6.5%. Age-seroprevalence curves suggested? divergent transmission dynamics, ranging from cumulative endemic exposure to recent focal outbreaks in younger cohorts. Likely constrained by low overall prevalence and high exposure ubiquity, univariable analyses detected no strong or consistent associations between seropositivity and the 21 pre-specified risk factors, including rodent consumption and agricultural practices. No significant village-wide spatial clustering of seropositive households was observed via Local Getis-Ord (Gi*).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>LASV exposure in rural Nigeria is characterized by low overall prevalence punctuated by significant hyper-local variation. The lack of consistent individual-level risk factors and the divergent age-exposure profiles suggest that risk may be influenced by stochastic, localized ecological drivers or obscured by the temporal misalignment of cross-sectional surveys. Vaccine trial site selection must move beyond regional incidence data to incorporate interdisciplinary, One Health metrics including high-resolution human serosurveillance and longitudinal reservoir monitoring to identify active transmission hotspots.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T17:38:14Z","timestamp":1779385094000},"page":"e0014379","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Local heterogeneity in Lassa fever serology in rural Nigeria: Implications for vaccine trial site selection"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9655-1656","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"David","family":"Simons","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"Harden","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalie","family":"Imirzian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Katharine E. T.","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nzube Michael","family":"Ifebueme","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sunday","family":"Eziechina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Helen","family":"Ignatius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Marcus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fisayomi","family":"Aderibigbe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James T.","family":"Koninga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Meremikwu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lina","family":"Moses","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David W.","family":"Redding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sagan","family":"Friant","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0014379.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1008811","article-title":"Bridging the gap: Using reservoir ecology and human serosurveys to estimate Lassa virus spillover in West Africa","volume":"17","author":"AJ Basinski","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLoS Comput Biol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0014379.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010289","article-title":"Ribavirin for treating Lassa fever: a systematic review of pre-clinical studies and implications for human dosing","volume":"16","author":"AP Salam","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"2","key":"pntd.0014379.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.25225\/jvb.20018","article-title":"Dhati Welel virus, the missing mammarenavirus of the widespread Mastomys natalensis","volume":"69","author":"JG De Bellocq","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Vertebrate Biology"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1055","DOI":"10.1080\/22221751.2020.1766381","article-title":"Households as hotspots of Lassa fever? Assessing the spatial distribution of Lassa virus-infected rodents in rural villages of Guinea","volume":"9","author":"J Mari\u00ebn","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emerg Microbes Infect"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9319","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-53616-4","article-title":"Lassa virus persistence with high viral titers following experimental infection in its natural reservoir host, Mastomys natalensis","volume":"15","author":"C Hoffmann","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"798","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-023-02700-3","article-title":"Twenty-nine years of continuous monthly capture-mark-recapture data of multimammate mice (Mastomys natalensis) in Morogoro, Tanzania","volume":"10","author":"H Leirs","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci Data"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1089\/15303660160025903","article-title":"Lassa fever in Guinea: I. Epidemiology of human disease and clinical observations","volume":"1","author":"DG Bausch","year":"2001","journal-title":"Vector Borne Zoonotic Diseases"},{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0014379.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"437","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/155.3.437","article-title":"A prospective study of the epidemiology and ecology of Lassa fever","volume":"155","author":"JB McCormick","year":"1987","journal-title":"J Infect Dis"},{"issue":"5","key":"pntd.0014379.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"608","DOI":"10.1093\/inthealth\/ihac076","article-title":"Lassa fever cases suffer from severe underreporting based on reported fatalities","volume":"15","author":"D Simons","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int Health"},{"issue":"6","key":"pntd.0014379.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1111\/2041-210X.12549","article-title":"Environmental\u2010mechanistic modelling of the impact of global change on human zoonotic disease emergence: a case study of Lassa fever","volume":"7","author":"DW Redding","year":"2016","journal-title":"Methods Ecol Evol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref011","first-page":"28","article-title":"Lassa virus circulation in small mammal populations in Bo District, Sierra Leone","volume":"10","author":"U Bangura","year":"2021","journal-title":"Biology (Basel)"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3589","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-47991-1","article-title":"Reservoir displacement by an invasive rodent reduces Lassa virus zoonotic spillover risk","volume":"15","author":"EA Eskew","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"296","DOI":"10.1111\/1365-2656.70187","article-title":"Land use gradients drive spatial variation in Lassa fever host communities in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone","volume":"95","author":"D Simons","year":"2026","journal-title":"Journal of Animal Ecology"},{"issue":"2","key":"pntd.0014379.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010938","article-title":"Seroprevalence of anti-Lassa Virus IgG antibodies in three districts of Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional, population-based study","volume":"17","author":"DS Grant","year":"2023","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"12","key":"pntd.0014379.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0338128","article-title":"Efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of Lassa fever vaccines: a living systematic review and landscape analysis of vaccine candidates","volume":"20","author":"A Bardach","year":"2025","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-025-04018-6","article-title":"A one health trial design to accelerate Lassa fever vaccines","volume":"32","author":"D Simons","year":"2026","journal-title":"Nat Med"},{"issue":"5","key":"pntd.0014379.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/jiaf308","article-title":"Serosurveillance identifies an endemic hotspot of Lassa fever in Faranah, Upper Guinea","volume":"232","author":"J Mari\u00ebn","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Infect Dis"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.25937.1","article-title":"Scaling Lassa Virus dynamics within anthropogenic ecosystems (SCAPES) study protocol: a mixed-methods observational cohort study of humans, rodents, and landscapes in Nigeria","volume":"11","author":"S Friant","year":"2026","journal-title":"Wellcome Open Res"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/ecog.08455","article-title":"Sitetool: an application for field site selection and evaluation","author":"N Imirzian","year":"2026"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5759","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-021-25910-y","article-title":"Geographical drivers and climate-linked dynamics of Lassa fever in Nigeria","volume":"12","author":"DW Redding","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref021","author":"Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention","year":"2025"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref022","volume-title":"Map liberator","author":"D Simons","year":"2026"},{"issue":"11","key":"pntd.0014379.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0000548","article-title":"Prevalence and risk factors of Lassa seropositivity in inhabitants of the forest region of Guinea: a cross-sectional study","volume":"3","author":"S Kern\u00e9is","year":"2009","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref024","author":"Risk Lab PSU","year":"2025"},{"issue":"2","key":"pntd.0014379.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2902.212525","article-title":"Influence of landscape patterns on exposure to Lassa fever virus, Guinea","volume":"29","author":"S Longet","year":"2023","journal-title":"Emerg Infect Dis"},{"issue":"5","key":"pntd.0014379.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"993","DOI":"10.3390\/v14050993","article-title":"Detection of Lassa Virus-reactive IgG antibodies in wild rodents: validation of a capture enzyme-linked immunological assay","volume":"14","author":"H Soubrier","year":"2022","journal-title":"Viruses"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref027","volume-title":"R: a language and environment for statistical computing","author":"R Core Team","year":"2023"},{"issue":"43","key":"pntd.0014379.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1686","DOI":"10.21105\/joss.01686","article-title":"Welcome to the Tidyverse","volume":"4","author":"H Wickham","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Open Sourc Softw"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-24277-4","volume-title":"ggplot2: Elegant graphics for data analysis","author":"H Wickham","year":"2016"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"570","DOI":"10.32614\/RJ-2021-053","article-title":"Reproducible summary tables with the gtsummary package","volume":"13","author":"DD Sjoberg","year":"2021","journal-title":"The R Journal"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref031","article-title":"brms \u00a0: an R Package for Bayesian multilevel models using stan","volume":"80","author":"P-C B\u00fcrkner","year":"2017","journal-title":"J Stat Soft"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref032","author":"Stan Development Team","year":"2025"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref033","volume-title":"Bayesian data analysis","author":"A Gelman","year":"2025","edition":"3"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref034","author":"RJ Hijmans"},{"issue":"91","key":"pntd.0014379.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5751","DOI":"10.21105\/joss.05751","article-title":"Using the tidyverse with terra objects: the tidyterra package","volume":"8","author":"D Hernang\u00f3mez","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Open Sourc Softw"},{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0014379.ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"716","DOI":"10.1007\/s11749-018-0599-x","article-title":"Comparing implementations of global and local indicators of spatial association","volume":"27","author":"RS Bivand","year":"2018","journal-title":"TEST"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"214","DOI":"10.1111\/1365-2435.13942","article-title":"Fine\u2010scale spatial patterns of wildlife disease are common and understudied","volume":"36","author":"GF Albery","year":"2021","journal-title":"Funct Ecol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref038","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1186\/s12916-022-02405-1","article-title":"Projecting vaccine demand and impact for emerging zoonotic pathogens","volume":"20","author":"A Lerch","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Med"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1118","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-024-09954-1","article-title":"Seroprevalence and risk factors for Lassa virus infection in South-West and North-Central Nigeria: a community-based cross-sectional study","volume":"24","author":"AB Tiamiyu","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Infect Diseases"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"416","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-018-2991-5","article-title":"Widespread arenavirus occurrence and seroprevalence in small mammals, Nigeria","volume":"11","author":"A Olayemi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Parasit Vectors"},{"key":"pntd.0014379.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100806","DOI":"10.1016\/j.epidem.2024.100806","article-title":"Serodynamics: a primer and synthetic review of methods for epidemiological inference using serological data","volume":"49","author":"JA Hay","year":"2024","journal-title":"Epidemics"},{"issue":"7","key":"pntd.0014379.ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0012751","article-title":"Estimation of Lassa fever incidence rates in West Africa: development of a modeling framework to inform vaccine trial design","volume":"19","author":"SM Moore","year":"2025","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0014379.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2948","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-025-24377-6","article-title":"Lassa fever in West Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis of attack rates, case fatality rates and risk factors","volume":"25","author":"GO Ogundele","year":"2025","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"}],"updated-by":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779926400000}}],"container-title":["PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T17:45:28Z","timestamp":1779990328000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"David","family":"Safronetz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014379","relation":{},"ISSN":["1935-2735"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1935-2735","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]}}}