Version 1
: Received: 31 October 2023 / Approved: 1 November 2023 / Online: 1 November 2023 (05:23:53 CET)
How to cite:
Dijk, N.V.; Carter, J.; Kiptanui, D.; Mens, P.F.; Schallig, H.D.F.H. A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis in West Pokot County, Kenya. Preprints2023, 2023110023. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.0023.v1
Dijk, N.V.; Carter, J.; Kiptanui, D.; Mens, P.F.; Schallig, H.D.F.H. A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis in West Pokot County, Kenya. Preprints 2023, 2023110023. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.0023.v1
Dijk, N.V.; Carter, J.; Kiptanui, D.; Mens, P.F.; Schallig, H.D.F.H. A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis in West Pokot County, Kenya. Preprints2023, 2023110023. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.0023.v1
APA Style
Dijk, N.V., Carter, J., Kiptanui, D., Mens, P.F., & Schallig, H.D.F.H. (2023). A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis in West Pokot County, Kenya. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.0023.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Dijk, N.V., Petra F Mens and Henk D F H Schallig. 2023 "A Case-Control Study on Risk Factors for Visceral Leishmaniasis in West Pokot County, Kenya" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202311.0023.v1
Abstract
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a severe parasitic disease transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. VL is endemic in West Pokot County, Kenya, where effective strategies to interrupt transmission are impeded by the limited understanding of VL risk factors. Therefore, this case-control study aimed to explore environmental, behavioral and household determinants of VL in West Pokot. From November 2022 to January 2023, a structured questionnaire was administered to 36 symptomatic primary VL cases attending the Kacheliba Sub-County Hospital and to 50 controls from local villages. The VL status of all participants was confirmed using an rK39 rapid diagnostic test. In an age-corrected univariate logistic regression analysis, significant associations were found between VL and housing characteristics, such as window presence and floor type. Furthermore, outdoor activities, including traveling outside the residence for more than 2 weeks, activities near termite mounds, and forest activities during the rainy season increased the risk of VL. VL cases more frequently reported the presence of cattle, dogs and sheep in their house yards at night. VL was also associated with cutting down trees in the house yard and house proximity to several Acacia tree species. To conclude, this work reports a number of previously undescribed risk factors for VL in the understudied West Pokot focus. Our findings warrant further research into sandfly ecology and potential zoonotic parasite reservoirs in West Pokot.
Keywords
visceral leishmaniasis; risk factors; sandfly; Kenya; case-control study
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
