Bantul is one of leptospirosis endemic areas which has been reported the cases every year and the presence of rats is an important risk factor relating to leptospirosis incidence in Bantul. Therefore, the role of rats as reservoir was examined in three types of ecosystems: forest, non-forest, and coastal ecosystems. Rat trapping was carried out using 100 single livetraps which were distributed in 9 locations: 2 points in the forest, 5 points in the non-forest, and 2 points in the coastal ecosystem. The rats were identified and their kidneys were collected and preserved in 70% alcohol medium. Leptospira were detected in the kidney by using PCR method. A number of 196 rats were obtained during the study. Most of them were commensal rats obtained from settlements ecosystems. Rattus tanezumi was the dominant species in the three ecosystems, but the highest infection rate of leptospira pathogen was in R.norvegicus. Coastal ecosystems were contained more infected rats, where the main habitat were mangrove forests. Based on these results, rats have great potency in leptospirosis transmission in Bantul, especially in settlements and coastal areas although leptospirosis cases were reported rarely in study area. Nonetheless, awareness of transmission should be disseminated since the presence of pathogenic leptospira in rats is very high.
Keywords: leptospirosis, rat, reservoir, ecosystem, Bantul
Abstrak
Kabupaten Bantul merupakan salah satu daerah endemis leptospirosis yang sejak lama melaporkan kasus ini setiap tahunnya dan keberadaan tikus merupakan faktor risiko penting yang mempengaruhi kejadian leptospirosis di Kabupaten Bantul. Oleh karena itu peranan tikus sebagai hewan reservoir diteliti di tiga jenis ekosistem yaitu ekosistem hutan, non-hutan, dan pesisir. Penangkapan tikus dilakukan menggunakan perangkap tunggal sebanyak 100 buah yang disebar di 9 titik lokasi, meliputi dua titik di ekosistem hutan, lima titik di ekosistem non-hutan, dan dua titik di ekosistem pesisir. Tikus tertangkap diidentifikasi kemudian organ ginjalnya dikoleksi dan diawetkan dalam medium alkohol 70%. Bakteri leptospira dideteksi pada specimen ginjal dengan metode PCR dari total 196 tikus diperoleh selama penelitian. Sebagian besar tikus diperoleh dari ekosistem dekat pemukiman dan semuanya merupakan tikus komensal. Rattus tanezumi merupakan spesies dominan di ketiga ekosistem, namun persentase infeksi leptospira patogen paling tinggi terdapat pada R. norvegicus. Ekosistem pesisir mengandung tikus terinfeksi leptospira patogenik paling tinggi, dengan habitat utama hutan mangrove. Berdasarkan hasil ini maka tikus berpotensi besar menularkan leptospirosis di Kabupaten Bantul, terutama di daerah pemukiman dan pesisir. Meskipun kasus leptospirosis di daerah penelitian sedikit sekali dilaporkan, namun kewaspadaan terhadap penularan perlu dilakukan sedini mungkin karena leptospira patogenik yang terkandung dalam tikus tergolong tinggi.
Kata kunci: leptospirosis, tikus, reservoir, ekosistem, Bantul
