Rodents as Hosts of Pathogens and Related Zoonotic Disease Risk

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.

Insecticidal Activity of Bacteria from Larvae Breeding Site with Natural Larvae Mortality: Screening of Separated Supernatant and Pellet Fractions

“…Briefly, DNA extraction was performed using EZ1 DNA kits (Qiagen, Courtaboeuf, France), according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Amplification and sequencing were performed as described in the study by Dahmana et al [ 60 ] using 16S universal primers [ 61 ]. The obtained electropherograms were assembled and edited using the ChromasPro1.7.7 software (Technelysium Pty Ltd., Tewantin, Australia), and then the sequences obtained were compared with those available in the GenBank database by NCBI BLAST ( ).…”

Biological Control of Aedes albopictus: Obtained from the New Bacterial Candidates with Insecticidal Activity

“…Briefly, DNA extraction was performed using EZ1 DNA kits (Qiagen, Courtaboeuf, France), according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Amplification and sequencing were performed as described in the study by Dahmana et al [ 26 ] using the 16S universal primers [ 27 ].…”

“…After validation of the spectra by using the Bruker software, the MALDI Biotyper 3.0 software was used to build dendrograms that allowed the comparison of the different isolates. The 16S rRNA-based phylogenetic reconstruction does not guarantee well-resolved and robust trees that reflect the overall relationship between Streptomyces species, accordingly, to identify the Streptomyces strains, the 23S rRNA [ 29 ] and atpD [ 30 ] genes were amplified, and the amplicons were sequenced as described in the study by Dahmana et al [ 26 ]. The electropherograms obtained were assembled and edited using ChromasPro 1.7.7 software (Technelysium Pty Ltd., Tewantin, Australia) and the sequences obtained were compared with those available in the GenBank database by NCBI BLAST ( ).…”

Detection of zoonotic pathogens in animals performed at the University Hospital Institute Méditerranée Infection (Marseille – France)

“…They are reservoirs and vectors of many zoonoses. They have been studied as part of the IHU's work in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a reservoir for the plague [ 29 ], in Senegal, Mali and Afghanistan as reservoirs of Bartonella [ [30] , [31] , [32] ]. In the Côte d'Ivoire, it has been shown that the cane rat ( Thryonomys swinderianus) can carry mycobacteria, precisely the Mycobacterium ulcerans which is responsible in humans for Buruli ulcer and zoonotic leptospira [ 33 , 34 ].…”