Prevalence of rodent infestation and risk factors in impoverished communities of Johannesburg

Abstract: Rodent infestation is a major public health challenge globally. Major cities such as New York, Paris, and London are also ravaged by rodent infestation. Cities in developing countries such as New Delhi, Lagos, and Johannesburg have also been affected, but the main solution in the management of rodents has been the adherence to the provision of basic services such as removal of solid waste. Lack of these basic services contribute to rodent infestation and has exposed millions of communities to health risks and rodentborne diseases e.g. leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis and rat-bite fever. The aim of the study was to determine the rodent infestation in the five study sites within the City of Johannesburg namely: Bertrams, Braamfischerville, Hillbrow, Hospital Hill, and Riverlea from 2006 to 2010. Secondary data extracted from the Health, Environment and Development (HEAD) study project was used to analyse and interpret the trend of rodent prevalence over a period of five years from 2006 to 2010. Pilot study was conducted during September/October 2005 and 584 residents interviewed were randomly selected from the five study sites. The five study sites were selected for the following reasons: Hillbrow to represent a high-rise inner city area; Bertrams an inner city suburb earmarked for a rapid development in the run-up for World Cup Soccer tournament in 2010; Riverlea to represent an old apartheid township; Braamfischerville to represent a new RDP housing project; and Hospital Hill to represent the un-serviced settlement. Sampling comprised of households from the aforementioned study sites and a pilot study was conducted prior to the main study to determine and pre-test the reliability and validity of the data collection instrument. Data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire from members of the households above the age of 18 years residing in the study sites. Data was analysed using STATA (Release 10, stat Corp. 2007) and a significant level of 0.05 was used and a p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant in the univariate analysis. The outcome of the study indicated that rodent infestation was a major problem in the five study sites. There were significant differences in rodent prevalence across the study sites. For instance, residents living in Hillbrow (formal settlement) reported the lowest (17.4%) prevalence throughout the study period, while those living in Hospital Hill (informal settlement) reported the highest (71.7%) prevalence throughout the study period when compared with other study sites...M.Tech