A Multi-Host Approach to Quantitatively Assess the Role of Dogs as Sentinels for Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) Surveillance in Madagascar.

ABSTRACT: Sentinel animals may play a key role in the surveillance of arbovirus circulation, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to assess the relevance of using dogs as sentinel animals for Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) surveillance in Madagascar. Serological surveys were conducted on 513 dogs and 135 cattle in the Ifanadiana district, southeastern Madagascar. In addition, 486 human dry blood samples available from the same area were used. Antibodies against RVFV were detected in 23 of 513 dogs, in 86 of 486 humans, and in 33 of 135 cattle. Serocatalytic models fitted to age-stratified serological data were developed to estimate the RVFV force of infection (FOI) under several hypotheses, ranging from no relationship to proportional RVFV FOIs between humans, cattle, and dogs. The

SUBMITTER: Ramaroson HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12656841 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature