Rift valley fever prevention

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aakash Hans, MD[2]

Prevention of Rift valley fever is key for African nations because of the deep socio-economic impact the disease has in these areas. The loss of livestock and subsequent infections in humans catering to these animals has reverberating affects for that areas economies. The mainstay of prevention is to avoid exposure to animals exhibiting symptoms of infection and to reduce mosquito breeding around livestock and farms.

• Avoiding exposure to infected or unwell livestock.
• Separating and isolating animals with symptoms from the rest of the herd will help in curtailing the spread amongst the animals, which in turn will decrease the risk of transmission of the virus from animals to humans.
• Effective mosquito control is pertinent in reducing transmission to humans.
• Many vaccines have been developed over the course of history, with the major challenge being, formulating a one-shot vaccine for livestock. Few vaccines are undergoing testing to gain approval for use in animals. ^[1]

There are no established measures for secondary prevention of this disease.

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