Hunting, Food Preparation, and Consumption of Rodents in Lao PDR

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 29 villages of Khamkeuth District in Bolikhamxay Province in the Lao PDR during March to May 2013. The study aimed to determine the characteristics associated with rodent consumption and related behaviors among different ethnic groups, ages, and genders. Five-hundred-eighty-four (584) males and females from 18-50 years of age participated in this study. Half of them were Hmong (292, 50%) while 152 respondents were Lao-Tai (26%) or other ethnic groups (140, 24%). Most of the respondents (79.5%) had farming as their main occupation. Prevalences of the studied outcomes were high: 39.9 for hunting or capturing rodents in the previous year, 77.7% for preparing rodents as food, and 86.3% for rodent consumption. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that likelihood of these types of rodent contact was more consistently associated with behavioral factors (gathering things from the forest and elsewhere, cultivation-related activities, and taking measures to prevent rodent-borne disease) than with socio-demographic, environmental, or cultural factors. The strongest associations were observed for gathering things; these associations were consistently positive and statistically significant. Although this study did not directly assess rodent-borne zoonosis risk, we believe that study findings raise concern that such risk may be substantial in the study area and other similar areas. Further epidemiological studies on the association between rodentborne disease infection and rodent hunting, preparation for food, and consumption are recommended. Moreover, further studies are needed on the association between these potential exposure factors (i.e., rodent hunting, preparation for food, and consumption) and rodent-borne infections, especially among ethnic groups like the Hmong in Lao PDR and those in neighboring countries with similar socio-demographic, environmental, behavioral and cultural contexts. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0133150 July 21, 2015 1 / 14 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Suwannarong K, Chapman RS, Lantican C, Michaelides T, Zimicki S (2015) Hunting, Food Preparation, and Consumption of Rodents in Lao PDR. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0133150. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0133150 Editor: Henk D. F. H. Schallig, Royal Tropical Institute, NETHERLANDS Received: November 21, 2014 Accepted: June 24, 2015 Published: July 21, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Suwannarong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The EPT/PREVENT Project allowed authors to access, analyze and publish this data. The PREVENT Project was implemented by FHI 360 under USAID Cooperative Agreement GHN-A-00-0900002-00; this study was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.