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. 2020 Mar 10;9(3):202.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens9030202.

Rodents as Hosts of Pathogens and Related Zoonotic Disease Risk

Handi Dahmana  1   2 , Laurent Granjon  3 , Christophe Diagne  3 , Bernard Davoust  1   2 , Florence Fenollar  2   4 , Oleg Mediannikov  1   2
Affiliations

Rodents as Hosts of Pathogens and Related Zoonotic Disease Risk

Handi Dahmana et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Rodents are known to be reservoir hosts for at least 60 zoonotic diseases and are known to play an important role in their transmission and spread in different ways. We sampled different rodent communities within and around human settlements in Northern Senegal, an area subjected to major environmental transformations associated with global changes. Herein, we conducted an epidemiological study on their bacterial communities. One hundred and seventy-one (171) invasive and native rodents were captured, 50 from outdoor trapping sites and 121 rodents from indoor habitats, consisting of five species. The DNA of thirteen pathogens was successfully screened on the rodents' spleens. We found: 2.3% of spleens positive to Piroplasmida and amplified one which gave a potentially new species Candidatus "Theileria senegalensis"; 9.35% of Bartonella spp. and amplified 10, giving three genotypes; 3.5% of filariasis species; 18.12% of Anaplasmataceae species and amplified only 5, giving a new potential species Candidatus "Ehrlichia senegalensis"; 2.33% of Hepatozoon spp.; 3.5% of Kinetoplastidae spp.; and 15.2% of Borrelia spp. and amplified 8 belonging all to Borrelia crocidurae. Some of the species of pathogens carried by the rodents of our studied area may be unknown because most of those we have identified are new species. In one bacterial taxon, Anaplasma, a positive correlation between host body mass and infection was found. Overall, male and invasive rodents appeared less infected than female and native ones, respectively.

Keywords: Anaplasmataceae; Bartonella; Borrelia crocidurae; Hepatozoon; Piroplasmida; pathogens host; rodents; zoonotic disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of piroplasms, based on partial 880-bp 18S gene, including potentially new species identified in this study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of Bartonella spp, including new genotypes identified in this study based on partial 733-bp ITS gene.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of Anaplasmataceae spp, including new genotypes from this study based on the partial 520-bp 23S gene.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of Hepatozoon spp, including new genotypes from this study based on partial 620-bp 18S gene.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of Borrelia spp, including new genotypes based on the partial 640-bp flagellin gene (flaB).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Map of localities where samples were collected in Ferlo (North Senegal).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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