Urban livestock-keeping and dengue in urban and peri-urban Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract

Urban livestock provides an important source of food and income, but it may increase the risks for disease transmission. Vectors, such as mosquitoes, might increase and thereby cause an enhanced transmission of infectious diseases, such as dengue fever; considered the most important mosquito-borne viral disease globally. This cross-sectional study evaluated the awareness of dengue fever and investigated how the presence of dengue vectors is affected by the keeping of livestock in urban households in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. From February to March 2018, during the season of lowest occurrence of dengue in Hanoi, 140 households were interviewed, of which 69 kept livestock. A general trend was observed; respondents living in the Dan Phuong district, a peri-urban district, had better knowledge and practice regarding dengue as compared to the urban Ha Dong district. In total, 3899 mosquitoes were collected and identified, of which 52 (1.33%) were Aedes species. A significant difference between the two districts was observed, with more households in Ha Dong having Aedes spp. mosquitoes (p = 0.02) and a higher incidence of dengue fever (p = 0.001). There was no significant association between livestock-rearing and the presence of Aedes spp. mosquitoes (p = 0.955), or between livestock-rearing and the incidence of dengue fever (p = 0.08). In conclusion, this study could not find any indication that households keeping livestock were at higher risk of dengue virus infections in Hanoi during the season of lowest occurrence of dengue, but clearly indicated the need of more information provided to urban inhabitants, particularly on personal protection.Author summary In many rapidly growing tropical cities, urban livestock keeping are an important provider of food for the urban population, as well as contributing to livelihoods. The high density of both humans and animals in cities can however contribute to diseases being transferred from animals to humans. Less studies have so far been performed on how the urban livestock keeping can contribute to increased number of vectors for diseases that are transmitted between humans in cities, such as dengue fever. In this study we explored the urban livestock keeping in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and the mosquitoes that transfer the dengue virus. We found that more of these mosquitoes were present in the more central homesteads than in the peri-urban areas, and that livestock keeping did not increase the number. The central households had experienced more dengue fever cases, and we also found that the peri-urban households were much more aware about how to protect themselves from the disease. This indicated a need to increase the information campaigns primarily in more central parts of the cities.

Published in

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
2019, Volume: 13, number: 11, article number: e0007774Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

SLU Authors

• Lindahl, Johanna

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
  • Uppsala University

UKÄ Subject classification

Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007774

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/103452