Title: Influence of landscape patterns on the exposure of LASV across diverse regions

150 words 32 Lassa fever virus (LASV) is the causative agent of Lassa fever, a disease endemic in 33 West Africa. Exploring the relationships between environmental factors and LASV 34 transmission across ecologically diverse regions can provide crucial information for the 35 design of appropriate interventions and disease monitoring. We measured LASV-specific IgG 36 seropositivity in 1286 sera collected in Coastal and Forested Guinea. Our results showed that 37 exposure to LASV was heterogenous between the sites. The LASV IgG seropositivity was 38 11.9% (95% CI 9.7-14.5) in Coastal site, while it was 59.6% (95% CI 55.5-63.5) in Forested 39 region. Interestingly, exposure was significantly associated with age, with seropositivity 40 increasing with age in the Coastal site. Finally, we also found significant associations 41 between exposure risk to LASV and landscape fragmentation in Coastal and Forested 42 regions. This study may help to define the regions with an increased exposure risk to LASV 43 where a close surveillance of LASV circulation is needed. 44