{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T05:01:26Z","timestamp":1790744486476,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,14]],"date-time":"2020-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1584144000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"German Research Foundation","award":["FI 1781\/2-1 and GU 883\/4-1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FI 1781\/2-1 and GU 883\/4-1"]}]},{"name":"European Foundation Initiative for African Research into Neglected Tropical Diseases","award":["1\/85\/022 and 89 540"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1\/85\/022 and 89 540"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ever since it was established that rodents serve as reservoirs of the zoonotic Lassa virus (LASV), scientists have sought to answer the questions: which populations of rodents carry the virus? How do fluctuations in LASV prevalence and rodent abundance influence Lassa fever outbreaks in humans? What does it take for the virus to adopt additional rodent hosts, proliferating what already are devastating cycles of rodent-to-human transmission? In this review, we examine key aspects of research involving the biology of rodents that affect their role as LASV reservoirs, including phylogeography, demography, virus evolution, and host switching. We discuss how this knowledge can help control Lassa fever and suggest further areas for investigation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v12030312","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,18]],"date-time":"2020-03-18T08:20:44Z","timestamp":1584519644000},"page":"312","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["Systematics, Ecology, and Host Switching: Attributes Affecting Emergence of the Lassa Virus in Rodents across Western Africa"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Ayodeji","family":"Olayemi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Natural History Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife HO220005, Nigeria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elisabeth","family":"Fichet-Calvet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Virology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, 20359 Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (2019, December 15). 2019 Lassa Fever Outbreak Situation Report, Available online: https:\/\/ncdc.gov.ng\/themes\/common\/files\/sitreps\/2551b4476f5f538c7a514efa231f0472.pdf."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"670","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.1970.19.670","article-title":"Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa","volume":"19","author":"Frame","year":"1970","journal-title":"Am. 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