Relationship of Parasites and Pathogens Diversity to Rodents in Thailand

Abstract

Rodents have proven to be of increasing importance in transmitting diseases to humans in recent decades, through the emergence of worldwide epidemics and, in Thailand, through the emergence of leptospirosis and scrub typhus. Investigations of parasites and pathogens in murine rodents have helped to describe the implication of the main species and understand the different ways of transmission. From wild to anthropized habitats, rodents can be reservoirs, hosts or vectors of infectious organisms. Related species can react very differently to the same pathogens, with pivotal implications for the understanding of their natural circulation. Scrub typhus is transmitted to humans through the bites of trombiculid mites that have previously fed on infected rodents, generally occurring in wild habitats. Leptospirosis can affect people without any direct contact with infected rodents, but by indirect spread in agricultural areas. Parasitic diseases, such as toxoplasmosis and trypanosomiasis benefit from the proximity of rodents to domesticated animals to jump from one vector to another before reaching humans. By occupying almost all biotopes and by rapidly adapting to environmental changes, rodents are fundamental in the maintenance and transmission of an impressive number of infectious organisms to humans.