Synanthropic rodents and their ectoparasites as carriers of a novel haemoplasma and vector-borne, zoonotic pathogens indoors.

Hornok, Sándor and Földvári, Gábor and Rigó, Krisztina and Meli, Marina L. and Gönczi, Enikő and Répási, Attila and Farkas, Róbert and Papp, Ibolya and Kontschán, Jenő and Hofmann-Lehmann, Regina (2015) Synanthropic rodents and their ectoparasites as carriers of a novel haemoplasma and vector-borne, zoonotic pathogens indoors. PARASITES AND VECTORS, 8. p. 27. ISSN 1756-3305

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Abstract

BACKGROUND Despite their close association with human dwellings, the role of synanthropic rodents in the epidemiology of vector-borne infections is seldom studied. The aim of the present study was to compensate for this lack of information, by the molecular investigation of vector-borne bacteria in peridomestic rodents and their ectoparasites. FINDINGS Fifty-two rodents (mainly house mice and brown rats) were caught alive in buildings and checked for blood-sucking ectoparasites; followed by molecular analysis of these, together with spleen samples, for the presence of vector-borne agents. Haemoplasma infection was significantly more prevalent among brown rats, than among house mice. A novel haemoplasma genotype (with only 92-93% similarity to Candidatus Mycoplasma turicensis and M. coccoides in its 16S rRNA gene) was detected in a harvest mouse and a brown rat. Sporadic occurrence of Rickettsia helvetica, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. and Bartonella sp. was also noted in rodents and/or their ectoparasites. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that synanthropic rodents, although with low prevalence, may carry zoonotic and vector-borne pathogens indoors.

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