Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus
Background: Landscape may affect the distribution of infectious diseases by influencing the population density and dispersal of hosts and vectors. Plague (Yersinia pestis infection) is a highly virulent, re-emerging disease, the ecology of which has been scarcely studied in Africa. Human seroprevale...
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ftinraparis:oai:prodinra.inra.fr:208323 2023-05-15T18:05:06+02:00 Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus Brouat, Carine Rahelinirina, Soanandrasana Loiseau, Anne Rahalison, Lila Rajerison, Minoariso Laffly, Dominique Handschumacher, Pascal Duplantier, Jean-Marc 2013 application/pdf http://prodinra.inra.fr/ft/6B143C0E-8BD7-44F0-8CE0-92901F51687B http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/208323 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002266 eng eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/ CC-BY-ND-NC Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases 6 (7), . (2013) ARTICLE 2013 ftinraparis https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002266 2015-10-30T07:26:04Z Background: Landscape may affect the distribution of infectious diseases by influencing the population density and dispersal of hosts and vectors. Plague (Yersinia pestis infection) is a highly virulent, re-emerging disease, the ecology of which has been scarcely studied in Africa. Human seroprevalence data for the major plague focus of Madagascar suggest that plague spreads heterogeneously across the landscape as a function of the relief. Plague is primarily a disease of rodents. We therefore investigated the relationship between disease distribution and the population genetic structure of the black rat, Rattus rattus, the main reservoir of plague in Madagascar. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a comparative study of plague seroprevalence and genetic structure (15 microsatellite markers) in rat populations from four geographic areas differing in topology, each covering about 150-200 km(2) within the Madagascan plague focus. The seroprevalence levels in the rat populations mimicked those previously reported for humans. As expected, rat populations clearly displayed a more marked genetic structure with increasing relief. However, the relationship between seroprevalence data and genetic structure differs between areas, suggesting that plague distribution is not related everywhere to the effective dispersal of rats. Conclusions/Significance: Genetic diversity estimates suggested that plague epizootics had only a weak impact on rat population sizes. In the highlands of Madagascar, plague dissemination cannot be accounted for solely by the effective dispersal of the reservoir. Human social activities may also be involved in spreading the disease in rat and human populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique: ProdINRA PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 7 6 e2266 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique: ProdINRA |
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ftinraparis |
language |
English |
description |
Background: Landscape may affect the distribution of infectious diseases by influencing the population density and dispersal of hosts and vectors. Plague (Yersinia pestis infection) is a highly virulent, re-emerging disease, the ecology of which has been scarcely studied in Africa. Human seroprevalence data for the major plague focus of Madagascar suggest that plague spreads heterogeneously across the landscape as a function of the relief. Plague is primarily a disease of rodents. We therefore investigated the relationship between disease distribution and the population genetic structure of the black rat, Rattus rattus, the main reservoir of plague in Madagascar. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a comparative study of plague seroprevalence and genetic structure (15 microsatellite markers) in rat populations from four geographic areas differing in topology, each covering about 150-200 km(2) within the Madagascan plague focus. The seroprevalence levels in the rat populations mimicked those previously reported for humans. As expected, rat populations clearly displayed a more marked genetic structure with increasing relief. However, the relationship between seroprevalence data and genetic structure differs between areas, suggesting that plague distribution is not related everywhere to the effective dispersal of rats. Conclusions/Significance: Genetic diversity estimates suggested that plague epizootics had only a weak impact on rat population sizes. In the highlands of Madagascar, plague dissemination cannot be accounted for solely by the effective dispersal of the reservoir. Human social activities may also be involved in spreading the disease in rat and human populations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brouat, Carine Rahelinirina, Soanandrasana Loiseau, Anne Rahalison, Lila Rajerison, Minoariso Laffly, Dominique Handschumacher, Pascal Duplantier, Jean-Marc |
spellingShingle |
Brouat, Carine Rahelinirina, Soanandrasana Loiseau, Anne Rahalison, Lila Rajerison, Minoariso Laffly, Dominique Handschumacher, Pascal Duplantier, Jean-Marc Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
author_facet |
Brouat, Carine Rahelinirina, Soanandrasana Loiseau, Anne Rahalison, Lila Rajerison, Minoariso Laffly, Dominique Handschumacher, Pascal Duplantier, Jean-Marc |
author_sort |
Brouat, Carine |
title |
Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
title_short |
Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
title_full |
Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
title_fullStr |
Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir Rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the Madagascan focus |
title_sort |
plague circulation and population genetics of the reservoir rattus rattus: the influence of topographic relief on the distribution of the disease within the madagascan focus |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://prodinra.inra.fr/ft/6B143C0E-8BD7-44F0-8CE0-92901F51687B http://prodinra.inra.fr/record/208323 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002266 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases 6 (7), . (2013) |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-ND-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002266 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e2266 |
_version_ |
1766176531602735104 |