[International Pest Control] Lassa Fever Trapped

For many years, parts of Africa have been plagued with famine, poverty and widespread disease. Now, with cases of Lassa fever growing, disease in Africa has become even more prevalent.

Lassa fever, an acute viral illness discovered in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria, has become endemic throughout much of West Africa. The virus is harbored in the multimammate rat (any of several species of the genus Mastomys) and is easily transmitted through contact with diseased animals and individuals. And because the multimammate rat is so common in a region where poverty hinders proper pest control and medical treatment, Lassa fever has become a life-threatening problem.

The International Rescue Committee is a world relief organization that assists in the rehabilitation and protection, among others, of victims of cultural and ethnic violence. In Sierra Leone, the IRC is working with refugee camps to develop smarter and more efficient pest control methods. But the organzation’s efforts came to a standstill and needed the assistance of someone experienced in rodent control. That’s where Richard Poché comes in.

Poché, the founder of Scimetrics, a rodent product manufacturer in Wellington, Colo., traveled to West Africa to work in refugee camps to educate locals on suitable pest control techniques.

Poché said that one of the complicating factors in the spread of Lassa fever is that infected rats are eaten as food and have been for thousands of years. The most common method of transmission of Lassa fever is from rodents by contact with the rat or its urine and feces in food.

As of yet, glueboards are the most common form of rodent control in the country of Sierra Leone. Although the camps have removed roughly 100,000 rats, Poché said it’s "just a drop in the bucket."

Although Poché dealt with disease, poverty and civil unrest for two months during his stay in West Africa this year, this wasn’t the first time he has seen these conditions.

"I spent four years in West Africa in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer back in the ’70s," Poché said. "It’s a reminder of what most of the world is really going through. It has nothing to do with bottom lines or EPA approvals. It’s just tying to make it another day."

While Poché worked with refugees in the camps, he helped draft new ways to control the rodents that carry Lassa. What he came up with would allow for more efficient rodent control.

AN EVERYDAY SOLUTION. Poché developed a trap that can be made with simple, everyday materials. The traps consist of pieces of coat hangers, bamboo sticks and sardine cans. When a rat enters the bamboo tube, it gets stuck and is trapped by a slanted door preventing its exit.

Making these traps out of everyday, inexpensive materials was vital. Previously, camps would purchase glue imported from Italy to use with glueboards. But this practice soon became a problem.

"(The glue is) $1.50 a tube and they would prefer to feed their kids," Poché said. "So that’s the biggest dilemma in Africa. A lot of it is just that the economic level is so low and people can barely get by."

Another problem lies deep in agricultural fields. Poché said the Quelea bird ravages and devastates grain fields for wheat, corn and sorghum, leaving nothing behind and only adding to Africa’s famine.

"Nobody has really ventured into agriculture, which is where the biggest problems are," Poché said. "We have black birds in the Midwest and in the Dakotas, but it’s nothing compared to what’s facing the African farmer."

Because parts of Africa are so impoverished, disease and famine are never ending. Most of Africa’s people aren’t able to implement a working system of pest control.

The IRC aids in helping people all over the world. For more information or to find out how you can help, visit www.theirc.org.

The author is a contributing writer to PCT magazine. She can be reached at jwagner@giemedia.com.