Mites, rodents, and pathogens: A global review for a multi-species interaction in disease ecology

Not Only Leptotrombidium spp. an Annotated Checklist of Chigger Mites (Actinotrichida: Trombiculidae) Associated with Bacterial Pathogens

“…Hereby discussed data concern only non-artificial infections of mites originating from the natural environment. We excluded experimentally induced associations, such as acquisition of B. garinii and C. burnetii by larvae of the European harvest mite after parasitizing infected rodents under laboratory conditions, or obtaining O. tsutsugamushi -positive larvae of the common Northamerican chigger resulting from experimental feeding upon host with rickettsaemia [ 42 , 54 , 133 ]. Associations with viruses, for example, between Hantaan virus and L. scutellare [ 147 , 148 ], however very interesting, were omitted too.…”

“…Considering the fact that the current number of pathogen-associated trombiculids is 100, whereas formation of the stylostome has been examined in a fracture of this group, the relation between the structure of the feeding canal and acquisition of bacteria is still to be verified in the research involving more species. A common feature of the remaining bacterial genera detected in trombiculids (i.e., Bartonella, Coxiella, Francisella , Leptospira , Mycobacterium ) is their natural presence in organisms of Rodentia and Soricomorpha [ 42 , 158 , 159 , 160 , 161 , 162 ], which are not only preferable hosts of chiggers in general but also were sources from which infected parasitic instars were collected. Named microorganisms, however, (unlike Rickettsiaceae and Borreliaceae) do not demonstrate high affinity to external layers of the connective tissue, but are reported to reside mostly in phagocytes, endothelium, erythrocytes and kidney cells as well as in soil and water [ 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168 ].…”

“…rickettsia leptotrombidium) harbored by Trombiculidae, along with the most recent and the first ever findings of rickettsiae in chiggers from North Carolina (USA) [ 64 ] only reaffirm the sense of continual survey on, otherwise unrecognized and hidden, pathogens and their transmission routes. Exploring the issue is also justified by non-decreasing importance of parasitic and bacterial zoonoses in general [ 42 ] and can be greatly supported by the highly effective technologies (e.g., RAPD-PCR fingerprinting or high throughput sequencing (HTS) related techniques such as DNA metabarcoding), application of which can result in further contributions to the hereby reviewed matter.…”

“…As for the broad scale studies on bacteria and parasitic mites, Chaisiri et al provided new data on the bacterial flora associated with chiggers in Thailand and summarized the published information on microbiome of representatives of Sarcoptiformes, Trombidiformes and Mesostigmata orders [ 40 , 41 ]. Herrera-Mares et al, in turn, recently reviewed the knowledge on the ecology of infectious and parasitic diseases being shaped by the interactions between parasites representing Trombidiformes and Mesostigmata, their rodent hosts and related etiological agents occurring worldwide [ 42 ].…”

Host sweet host: Rodent communities support similar ectoparasite diversity regardless of anthropogenic disturbance

“…Variation in rodent abundance not only affects the ecosystem services they perform but also impacts human well‐being, e.g., by acting as disease vectors. This is because rodents are some of the preferred hosts for ectoparasites, such as fleas, ticks, and mites (Dáttilo et al., 2020; Foley et al., 2016; Jayashankar et al., 2016; Mihalca & Sándor, 2013), which are the intermediate hosts for many zoonotic diseases, including viral encephalitis, the plague, Q fever, Lyme disease, and allergic reactions such as dermatitis (Baneth, 2014; Foley et al., 2016; Herrera‐Mares et al., 2022; Ho et al., 2021; Hofmeester et al., 2016; Meerburg et al., 2009). Therefore, understanding how anthropogenic disturbance influences rodent–ectoparasite interactions can inform the management of local ecosystems and public health risks.…”