scholarly journals Small mammals – natural reservoir of pathogenic leptospires

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (No. 10 - 11) ◽  
pp. 309-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. TREML ◽  
M. PEJČOCH ◽  
Z. HOLEŠOVSKÁ

A total of 429 specimens belonging to 9 species of small mammals, trapped in various areas of the CzechRepublicduring the year 2001, were examined for antibodies against leptospires. Antibodies were found in all localities under study in 50 specimens, i.e., 11.6%, belonging to 5 species. Antibodies were most often , i.e., in 42% of positives, found in Microtus arvalis. In Apodemus spp. and Clethrionomys glareolus it was in 34.0% and 14.0% of positives, respectively. In other specimens belonging to Mus musculus and Microtus subterraneus antibodies were found only on occasion. Antibodies against L. grippotyphosa serotype were only found. Titres varied from 100 to 12 800 and most reactions in positive individuals were at lower dilutions, i.e., up to the titre of 800 in 40 cases (80%). e results proved the already known fact of dominant persistence of leptospiral foci of the grippotyphosa type in theCzechRepublic.

2012 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
František Treml ◽  
Jiří Nepeřený ◽  
Eva Jánová ◽  
Hana Banďouchová ◽  
Jiří Pikula

A total of 2,195 small mammals belonging to 8 species were captured in different districts of South Moravia, Czech Republic, and examined for antibodies against leptospires in the period from 2004 to 2008. Positive specimens amounting to 173 (9%) were found annually in five species of rodents such as Apodemus sp., Clethrionomys glareolus, Microtus arvalis, Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus. The recognised leptospiral serotypes included L. grippotyphosa, L. bulgarica, L. sejroe and L. icterohaemorrhagiae/copenhageni. The highest prevalence of antibodies was against the L. grippotyphosa serotype (92.8%). Reactions with other serotypes of leptospires were exceptional. Reactions with L. bulgarica antigen were only due to coagglutination with L. grippotyphosa leptospires. The titres ranged from 100 to 12,800. However, lower values up to the titre of 800 predominated in 151 cases (83.4%). There were non-significant sex differences in seroprevalence with 8.1% and 7.6% prevalence in males and females, respectively. Marked differences were, however, found in seroprevalence of juveniles and adults with 3.3% and 10.2%, respectively. Adult males and females were seropositive in 10.9% and 9.5%, respectively; juveniles were seropositive only in 3.0% and 3.7%. The highest percentage of specimens (43.6%) was examined during July and August. The summer seroprevalence of 10.9% was higher than in spring and autumn. Our results revealed the persistence of both natural and synanthropic nidi of leptospirosis in the region under study and demonstrated epidemiological implications regarding health protection of animals and humans.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-153
Author(s):  
Vladimír Langraf ◽  
Zuzana Krumpálová ◽  
Kornélia Petrovičová ◽  
Zuzana Poláčiková ◽  
Michal Ambros ◽  
...  

Abstract Changes in the structure of small mammals’ communities (Eulipotyphla, Rodentia) along urban–rural gradient indicate the environmental state of stability or instability. Since small mammals are important with regard to the transmission of diseases to man and domestic animals, therefore knowledge of their association with the landscape structure is needed in land use planning. In course of the period from 2015 to 2017, there were recorded 109 individuals belonging to 15 species at 9 study sites (3 rural, 3 suburban, and 3 urban). We recorded a decrease in the average number of species in the direction of the suburban–urban–rural gradient. The number of individuals decreased in the rural–urban–suburban gradient. Eudominant species Clethrionomys glareolus (D = 20.2%), Microtus arvalis (13.8%), and Sorex araneus (19.3%) preferred the close links between the terms of the rural landscape, while Apodemus agrarius (D = 11.9%) and Sorex minutus (D = 11.0%) preferred the close links between the terms of the urban landscape.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Caraman ◽  
◽  
Galina Tikhonova ◽  
Igori Tikhonov ◽  
Elena Kotenkova ◽  
...  

The research has been conducted in 3 biggest cemeteries of Chisinau city: Central (“Armenian”), “Saint Lazarus” (“Doina”) and Jewish. We found 9 species of small mammals (7 species of rodents and 2 shrews). Species of rodents were Clethrionomys glareolus, Microtus rossiaemeridionalis, Apodemus flavicollis, A. sylvaticus, A. uralensis, Rattus norvegicus and Mus musculus and 2 shrew species – Sorex araneus and Crocidura suaveolens. A.sylvaticus was dominant species, followed by M. rossiaemeridionalis and A. flavicollis.


Author(s):  
B. I. Levchenko ◽  
L. V. Degtyareva ◽  
A. A. Zaitsev ◽  
M. P. Grigor’Ev ◽  
V. V. Ostapovich

Epizootiological monitoring of the forest-steppe area of the natural tularemia focus in the Stavropol region has revealed that the role of particular species of small mammals in the persistence of natural tularemia focality is unequal. Epizootic activity of the focus in 1959-1970 was determined by the numerous species of rodents: Microtus arvalis , mice of Syvaemus genus and Mus musculus . In 1972-2010 there occurred significant changes in the grouping of the main tularemia agent carriers under the influence of strong anthropogenic pressure. Nowadays the leading role is played by the widely-spread and subsistent mice of Sylvaemus genus and C. suaveolens , the latter ones being responsible for 31.2 % of overall, isolated from small mammals, tularemia agent strains. In addition to this, epizootic significance of M. arvalis has greatly changed. Index of strains isolated from field vole has lowered from 55.3 up to 28.4. Numbers of M. arvalis and Mus musculus are continuously on the low level, which is due to the absence of favorable breeding conditions. It reduces their impact on the persistence of natural focality in the territory under surveillance significantly.


2020 ◽  
pp. 291-294
Author(s):  
Nikanorova ◽  
Kozlov

The article considers the issues of carriage by small mammals of dangerous zoonotic diseases: leptospirosis, tularemia, hantaviruses. Data on the detection of antigens to pathogens in the districts of the Kaluga region are presented. As you know, small mammals are the main link in maintaining zoonotic natural focal diseases. The larval phases of ixodic ticks, mosquitoes and other parasitic arthropods prefer to feed on the blood of mouse rodents, which contributes to the spread of vector-borne infections and infestations. The following species of mouse rodents are found in the Kaluga Region: small forest mouse (Apodemus uralensis), gray vole, red vole (Myodes glareolus), field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), gray rat (Rattus norvegicus), and house mouse (Mus musculus). In natural biotopes, field species prevail in number: field mouse, gray vole, red vole. In the Kaluga region, antigens for tularemia, hantaviruses, and leptospirosis were found in small mammals in 4.9–9.4% of the studied animals on average per year. Of particular concern are the city of Kaluga, Borovsky, Babyninsky, Yukhnovsky, Ulyanovsk, Medynsky, Maloyaroslavetsky, Meshchovsky, Peremyshlsky, Kozelsky, Dzerzhinsky and Ulyanovsk districts. The data obtained indicate the stationarity of these diseases in the territory of the Kaluga region.


2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 1002-1007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge S. Liz ◽  
Laurence Anderes ◽  
John W. Sumner ◽  
Robert F. Massung ◽  
Lise Gern ◽  
...  

The presence of granulocytic ehrlichiae was demonstrated by PCR inIxodes ricinus ticks and wild small mammals in Switzerland in two areas of endemicity for bovine ehrlichiosis. Six ticks (three females and three nymphs) (1.4%) of 417 I. ricinus ticks collected by flagging vegetation contained ehrlichial DNA. A total of 201 small mammals from five species, wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis), earth vole (Pitymys subterraneus), bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus), and common shrew (Sorex araneus), were trapped. The analysis of I. ricinus mammals collected on 116 small mammals showed that nine C. glareolus voles and two A. sylvaticus mice hosted infected tick larvae. In these rodents, granulocytic ehrlichia infection was also detected in blood, spleen, liver, and ear samples. Further examinations of 190 small mammals without ticks or with noninfected ticks showed the presence of ehrlichial DNA in spleen and other tissues from six additional C. glareolus, three A. flavicollis, and one S. araneus mammals. This study suggests thatA. sylvaticus, A. flavicollis, S. araneus, and particularly C. glareolus are likely to be natural reservoirs for granulocytic ehrlichiae. Partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of granulocytic ehrlichiae from ticks and rodents showed a high degree of homology (99 to 100%) with granulocytic ehrlichiae isolated from humans. In contrast, groESL heat shock operon sequence analysis showed a strong divergence (approximately 5%) between the sequences in samples derived from rodents and those derived from samples from questing ticks or from other published ehrlichia sequences. Dual infections with granulocytic ehrlichia andBorrelia burgdorferi were found in ticks and small mammals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (20) ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Oksana Markovska ◽  

The study of the species composition and biotope preferences of small mammals around Kolomak had been carried out for four years (2017–2020). During the study period, 9 species of mouse-like rodents and 3 species of insectivores were found. No Cricetulus migratorius, Terricola subterraneus or Microtus oeconomus were found from the theoretically expected species already known for this area. Around Kolomak, 11 biotopes were investigated, including maple-linden oak forest, agrocenoses, dry and flooded meadows, which are located along the banks of a pond and in a gully-ravine system. The first year of research was in a year of high abundance (2017), and then 9 species were immediately discovered, but species with small abundance, such as Crocidura suaveolens, Sorex minutus, and Micromys minutus, were found in years with a small relative abundance of small mammals. Myodes glareolus, Sylvaemus tauricus and Sylvaemus uralensis are dominant species in the captures. According to the trapping results, 2017 was the year of high relative abundance of small mammals, 2018 was the year of the lowest relative abundance, 2019 and 2020 were years with an average relative abundance. During the study period, 6 species were identified in forest biotopes (Apodemus agrarius, Sylvaemus tauricus, Sylvaemus uralensis, Myodes glareolus, Sorex araneus, and Dryomys nitedula). In ecotones with floodplain biotopes, 8 species were found (Apodemus agrarius, Sylvaemus sylvaticus, Sylvaemus uralensis, Mus musculus, Micromys minutus, Myodes glareolus, and Sorex araneus). Four species (Mus musculus, Sylvaemus sylvaticus, Sylvaemus uralensis, and Microtus levis) were discovered near human settlements. In general, biotopes with the greatest species diversity and number of caught individuals are ecotones of dry and floodplain meadows. In years of high abundance, both species diversity and the number of individuals caught in the oak forest and in ecotones near the pond increased. It should be noted that Myodes glareolus was caught in clear-cuts during the two years (2019-2020) only in the summer of 2020. Earlier, not a single specimen of this species was caught there, although there is a dense weed grass cover in this area and the shrub layer has also grown up in some places, and the clear-cut is surrounded by oak forest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-437
Author(s):  
Rafael Quirino Moreira ◽  
Vanessa Do Nascimento Ramos ◽  
Adriane Suzin ◽  
Diego Garcia Ramirez ◽  
Paulo Ricardo De Oliveira Roth ◽  
...  

We evaluated the role of communities of small mammals from three distinct areas in a region of Cerrado mixed with Atlantic Forest remains for maintenance of tick fauna. Thirty-nine marsupials (Gracilinanus agilis, n = 34; Marmosa paraguaiana, n = 4; Didelphis albiventris, n = 1) and 33 rodents (Oecomys cleberi, n = 10; Nectomys squamipes, n = 4; Calomys tener, n = 4; Hylaeamys megacephalus, n = 4; Akodon sp., n = 3; Rattus rattus, n = 3; Cerradomys subflavus, n = 2; Mus musculus, n = 2; Rhipidomys macrurus, n = 1) were captured. Solely G. agilis and the four rodent species (N. squamipes, R. macrurus, C. subflavus and Akodon sp.) were infested. Four tick species were collected (Amblyomma dubitatum, Amblyomma sculptum, Ixodes loricatus and Ornithodoros mimon). A. dubitatum was the most abundant tick species on hosts. Capture success was higher in the dry season, but the infestation was similar in both seasons. Forested habitats, particularly riparian forests, resulted in higher number of hosts and ticks collected (from hosts and from vegetation), compared to pastures and anthropized sites. The association between C. subflavus and I. loricatus and between A. dubitatum and N. squamipes observed here is the first recorded in Cerrado biome. Areas with more patches of forest, including the Atlantic Forest fragments, tend to present a richest community of small mammals and associated ticks.


Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. DUH ◽  
M. PETROVEC ◽  
T. TRILAR ◽  
T. AVSIC-ZUPANC

In Europe, the zoonotic cycle of Babesia microti has not been determined so far. Recently, B. microti was detected in Ixodes ricinus ticks in Slovenia by using molecular methods. In order to investigate the mammalian hosts of B. microti in Slovenia we collected 261 small mammals representing 11 species. They were tested for the presence of babesial parasites with a PCR assay based on the nuclear small subunit rRNA gene (nss-rDNA). The bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) and yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) were infected with B. microti. The prevalence rate was 15·9% for C. glareolus and 11·8% for A. flavicollis. Nucleotide sequences of amplified portions of B. microti nss-rDNA from C. glareolus and A. flavicollis were indistinguishable from each other and identical with those previously described in I. ricinus ticks collected in Slovenia. The results of this study represent molecular evidence of B. microti in small mammals in Europe.


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