| Summary: | Thesis (PhD (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2022. Within South Africa, 9.1 million people live in resource-poor environments where they have direct and indirect (through shared ectoparasites) contact with both invasive and indigenous rodent species. Rodents are carriers of multiple pathogens, inclusive of the emergent and potentially zoonotic group of bacteria known as haemotropic mycoplasmas (or haemoplasmas). Prior to this study, data on rodent-associated haemoplasma occurrence and diversity in South Africa was limited to a single study on subterranean African mole-rats of the family Bathyergidae. Information regarding haemoplasma occurrence, diversity and modes of transmission in South Africa are presently lacking for invasive and indigenous rodent species occupying informal human settlements in densely populated urban environments or communities living at the wildlife/livestock/human interface. In this study, we assessed the occurrence, diversity, and potential routes of transmission of haemoplasma genotypes cycling in 486 rodents, comprising of three invasive Rattus species (Rattus rattus, R. tanezumi and R. norvegicus) and six indigenous rodent species (Aethomys ineptus, Mastomys natalensis, Mastomys coucha, Gerbilliscus leucogaster, Lemniscomys rosalia and Saccostomus campsestris). Where possible, data on co-infections with Anaplasma, another genus of bloodborne bacteria, seasonal variation and variation across a human land-use gradient were assessed. Invasive Rattus samples were collected across the urban Gauteng metropole, the peri-urban Roodeplaat Dam Provincial Nature Reserve (RDPNR) in the Gauteng Province and in the Mnisi community area in the Mpumalanga Province (representative of agropastoral informal settlements as well as the bordering Manyeleti Nature Reserve). Indigenous species were either sampled in the peri-urban RDPNR (A. ineptus only) or in the Mnisi community area (all indigenous species assessed). Targeted 16SrRNA PCR assays were used to determine haemoplasma occurrence. PCR ...
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