Biological invasions in rodent communities: from ecological interactions to zoonotic bacterial infection issues

Diagne, Christophe; Galan, Maxime; Tamisier, Lucie; d'Ambrosio, Jonathan; Dalecky, Ambroise; Ba, Khan; Kané, Mamadou; Niang, Youssoupha; Diallo, Mamoudou; A, Sow; Tatard, Caroline; Loiseau, Anne; Fossati‐Gaschignard, Odile; Sembène, Mbacké; Cosson, Jean-François; Charbonnel, Nathalie; Brouat, Carine

doi:10.1101/108423

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(58 reference statements)

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“…Very little is known about the movement and dispersal of brown rats in urban landscapes, but recent studies using tracking methods and genetic data indicate that brown rat movements are modest (mean of 100‐200 metres), with some instances of long‐distance dispersal greater than 500 metres (Gardner‐Santana et al., ; Glass, Klein, Norris, & Gardner, ; Heiberg et al., ; Richardson et al., ). This pattern suggests that limited movement and dispersal of brown rats could result in localized parasite communities that become less similar over short geographical distances (Diagne et al., ). However, transmission through indirect contact is also possible and may be facilitated by spatial overlap in rat home ranges without direct host–host interactions (Leu et al., ), or through contact with excreta (Felzemburgh et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City

Angley

Combs

Firth

et al. 2017

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) are a globally distributed pest. Urban habitats can support large infestations of rats, posing a potential risk to public health from the parasites and pathogens they carry. Despite the potential influence of rodent-borne zoonotic diseases on human health, it is unclear how urban habitats affect the structure and transmission dynamics of ectoparasite and microbial communities (all referred to as "parasites" hereafter) among rat colonies. In this study, we use ecological data on parasites and genomic sequencing of their rat hosts to examine associations between spatial proximity, genetic relatedness and the parasite communities associated with 133 rats at five sites in sections of New York City with persistent rat infestations. We build on previous work showing that rats in New York carry a wide variety of parasites and report that these communities differ significantly among sites, even across small geographical distances. Ectoparasite community similarity was positively associated with geographical proximity; however, there was no general association between distance and microbial communities of rats. Sites with greater overall parasite diversity also had rats with greater infection levels and parasite species richness. Parasite community similarity among sites was not linked to genetic relatedness of rats, suggesting that these communities are not associated with genetic similarity among host individuals or host dispersal among sites. Discriminant analysis identified site-specific associations of several parasite species, suggesting that the presence of some species within parasite communities may allow researchers to determine the sites of origin for newly sampled rats. The results of our study help clarify the roles that colony structure and geographical proximity play in determining the ecology of R. norvegicus as a significant urban reservoir of zoonotic diseases. Our study also highlights the spatial variation present in urban rat parasite communities, indicating that rats across New York City are not reservoirs for a homogenous set of parasites and pathogens. As a result, the epidemiological risks may be similarly heterogeneous for people in urban habitats.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City

Angley

Combs

Firth

et al. 2017

Zoonoses and Public Health

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“…Such interactions can have important repercussions on the ecology of zoonotic pathogens, hence on human health, for example by altering the host reservoir susceptibility, modifying the temporal dynamics of infections, increasing transmission risks, or impacting the pathogen virulence [1]. Multiparasitism is common in all animal organisms, and rodents have been particularly used as model hosts for studies on infection by multiple pathogens [3][4][5][6], especially in domestic areas where they are key reservoirs for a wide panel of zoonotic pathogens [3,6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toxoplasma gondiiandTrypanosoma lewisiinfection in urban small mammals from Cotonou, Benin, with special emphasis on co-infection patterns

Etougbétché,

Houéménou,

Missihoun

et al. 2023

Preprint

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A growing number of studies has highlighted the importance of co-infections in eco-evolutionary processes underlying host-parasite interactions and the resulting epidemiology of zoonotic agents. Small mammals, and particularly rodents, are known to be important reservoirs of many zoonotic pathogens, such as Toxoplasma gondii and Trypanosoma lewisi that are responsible for toxoplasmosis and atypical trypanosomiasis in human, respectively. Laboratory experiments on rodent models have shown that primary infection with T. lewisi increases the host susceptibility to other co-infectious parasites, including T. gondii, following an alteration of the immune system. However, data on potential interactions between these parasites in wild small mammals remain scarce. In this study, we estimate the T. lewisi prevalence in 553 small mammals from four localities of Cotonou city, Benin. They were then combined with T. gondii data previously collected on the same individuals in order to investigate the influence of T. lewisi on T. gondii infection, and vice-versa, using cooccurrence tests and Generalized Linear Mixed Models. Despite quite high overall prevalence (32.5% and 15.2% for T. gondii and T. lewisi, respectively), we observed a clear and significant segregation between the two parasites. This may be explained by (i) differences in the species-specific susceptibility of small mammal host species to infection by these two parasites, with R. rattus and M. natalensis being the main reservoirs of T. lewisi while C. olivieri and M. m. domesticus are the main hosts for T. gondii; and/or by (ii) a possibly high mortality in co-infected animal in the wild. Although dedicated experimental studies are required to confirm this pattern, as they stand, our data fail to support that infection of small mammals by one of these two parasites favours widespread infection by the second one in nature.

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Biological invasions in rodent communities: from ecological interactions to zoonotic bacterial infection issues

Cited by 2 publications

References 43 publications

Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City

Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City

Toxoplasma gondiiandTrypanosoma lewisiinfection in urban small mammals from Cotonou, Benin, with special emphasis on co-infection patterns

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