Prevalence of zoonotic pathogens in common vole (Microtus arvalis) during a demographic explosion

• Main Authors: González-Barrio, David, Viñuela, Javier, Santamaría, Ana Eugenia, Olea, Pedro P., García, Jesús T., Ruiz Fons, Francisco
• Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Fundación BBVA
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Common vole; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/175624; https://doi.org/10.13039/100007406; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329

Trabajo presentado al 15th Rodens et Spatium: International Conference on Rodent Biology, celebrada en Olomouc (Czech Republic) del 25 al 29 de julio de 2016. There are several rodent-borne zoonoses of public health concern. For some of these, rodents play a key role as a source for humans and transmission risk may be densitydependent. The common vole (Microtus arvalis) was originally restricted to mountainous areas of northern Spain but the species has completely colonized the Spanish Northern Plateau during the last 30 years. Common vole populations experience cyclic demographic explosions that relate to increasing incidence of vole-borne zoonoses in coexisting humans, e.g. tularaemia. However, there is scarce information on other zoonotic pathogens circulating in common vole populations and coexisting wildlife, and consequently on the risk that sudden demographic changes pose to human health. In this study, 276 spleen samples collected from common voles (n = 253, 92.3%) and coexisting wild rodents, wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus (n = 19, 6.9%) and greater white-toothed shrew Crocidura russula (n = 3, 1.1%) were analysed for zoonotic pathogens.Wild rodents included in this study were captured in 2014 from a population experiencing demographic explosion. Spleen samples were screened for the presence of C. burnetii – the causal agent of animal and human Q fever, Leishmania spp. and Borrelia spp. by PCR. Pathogen DNA was not detected in spleen samples from coexisting wood mice and greater white-toothed shrews, perhaps due to low sample size. In voles, prevalences of C. burnetii, Leishmania spp. and Borrelia spp. were 12.2%, 1.2% and 0.0%, respectively. Coxiella burnetii prevalence was slightly higher than that found in the same population 2 years before (8.0%), suggesting that perhaps increasing vole density increases C. burnetii transmission and therefore the risk of transmission to other animals and humans. Future risk factor analyses on pathogen prevalence data would clarify if density-dependent effects ...