engleski

Zoonotic Agents in Rodents in Croatia

Rodents include more than 2, 200 species and spread over 35 diseases which present a serious public health problem worldwide. Croatia is an important natural focus for many rodent-borne zoonoses because of its diverse forest ecology and wide range of rodent species. Here we report a survey of 242 rodents including 43 bank voles (Myodes glareolus), 84 yellow-necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis), 53 striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius), 50 wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), 6 common shrews (Sorex araneus), 4 common voles (Microtus arvalis), 1 field vole (Microtus agrestis) and 1 common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) collected at 8 sites in Croatia over an 8-year period. Multiplex MassTag PCR method was used for simultaneous detection of Borrelia, Rickettsia, Bartonella, Babesia/Hepatozoon, Ehrlichia, Borrelia RF, Anaplasma, Francisella and Coxiella, renal tissue culture method was used for detection of Leptospira and singleplex PCR assays were used for detection of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, orthopoxviruses, flaviviruses, hantaviruses and Toxoplasma. A total of 52 rodents (21.5%) were infected with Leptospira, 2 (0.8%) with Borrelia, 29 (12.0%) with Bartonella, 69 (28.5%) with Babesia/Hepatozoon, 2 (0.8%) with Ehrlichia, 13 (5.4%) with Borrelia RF, 4 (1.7%) with Anaplasma, 2 (0.8%) with Francisella, 43 (17, 8%) with hantaviruses and 1 (0.4%) with an orthopoxvirus. No assay revealed infection with Rickettsia, Coxiella, lymphocyctic choriomeningitis virus, flavivirus or Toxoplasma. Multiple infections were found in 57 rodents (23, 6%) – dual infections in 48 rodents (19, 8%), triple infections in 7 rodents (2, 9%) and infections with four different pathogens in 2 rodents (0, 8%). Our findings confirm that rodents are reservoirs of important zoonotic agents and the utility of multiplex MassTag PCR for zoonotic pathogen surveillance. Further, we demonstrated the presence of different multiple infections in small rodents, which could have impact to public health because of possible simultaneous transmission of different pathogens to humans.

Rodents; zoonosis

nije evidentirano