Rift valley fever epidemiology and demographics
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [2]
Epidemiology and Demographics
Epidemiology and Demographics
- The virus is able to stay active outside the human body even when it is not being actively transmitted amongst animals as the Mcintoshi specie of the Aedes mosquito is able to pass on the virus to its progeny. [2]
- Heavy rain causes mosquitos to breed in large numbers, which translates into increased transmission to livestock.
- Many species of mosquitos and even sandflies and ticks are able to transmit the virus. Other animals like elephants, giraffes and buffaloes are also know to receive the virus through these arthropods.
- As more animals get infected, the risk of the virus being transmitted to humans increases.
- Humans acquire the infection by being exposed to animal fluids and products. There is no evidence suggesting transmission of the virus via mosquito bites. [3]
- Human to human transmission has not been reported till date. Medical personnel did not contract the virus during outbreaks even when they wore little to no personal protective equipment. [4]
- Sexual transmission in humans has not been recorded yet while vertical transmission has been reported in humans and livestock both.
- Most of the disease surges till now have been seen in some regions of Africa and countries belonging to the Arabian peninsula.
- Since its discovery around the year 1930, there have been outbreaks of RVF, starting in the 1950 in the African countries, South Africa and Kenya.
- In 1974, another episode of increased cases of RVF occurred in South Africa, where around 110 confirmed cases and seven fatalities were reported. [5]
- Outbreak of the greatest proportion was later recorded during a two year span starting from 1977 in Egypt, where approximately 200,000 cases were detected which resulted in 598 deaths.[6]
- In the year 1997, after a period of heavy rain in East Africa, another outbreak was observed with around 89,000 cases of RVF. [7] This led to the first incidence of RVF cases outside the African continent, in Saudi Arabia in the year 2000, with 880 cases and 123 fatalities. [8]
- There have been numerous incidence of RVF cases in East Africa, since the year 2016.
References
- ↑ Data were obtained from ProMed-mail (International Society For Infectious Diseases [1]).
- ↑ Huang YM. A new african species of aedes (Diptera: Culicidae). Mosquito systematics 1985; 17:108–120
- ↑ Nicholas DE, Jacobsen KH, Waters NM. Risk factors associated with human Rift Valley fever infection: systematic review and meta-analysis. Trop Med Int Health 2014; 19:1420–1429
- ↑ Al-Hamdan NA, Panackal AA, Al Bassam TH, Alrabea A, Al Hazmi M et al. The risk of nosocomial transmission of Rift Valley fever. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2015; 9:e0004314
- ↑ McIntosh BM, Russell D, dos Santos I, Gear JH. Rift Valley fever in humans in South Africa. S Afr Med J 1980; 58:803–806
- ↑ Laughlin LW, Meegan JM, Strausbaugh LJ, Morens DM, Watten RH. Epidemic Rift Valley fever in Egypt: observations of the spectrum of human illness. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 1979; 73:630–633
- ↑ An outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, eastern Africa, 1997-1998. EMHJ 1998; 4:379–381
- ↑ Madani TA, Al-Mazrou YY, Al-Jeffri MH, Mishkhas AA, Al-Rabeah AM et al. Rift Valley fever epidemic in Saudi Arabia: epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics. Clin Infect Dis 2003; 37:1084–1092