BackgroundIllegal waste disposal impacts public health and causes aesthetic and environmental pollution. Waste disposed in places without permitted and controlled facilities can provide a ready source of nutrition and shelter for rodents and thus promote the spread of their ecto- and endoparasites. The presence of two distinct zoonotic viruses, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), was searched at illegal waste sites. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of infection with both viruses in rodents and to discuss the virus-rodent relations in such environments.MethodsRodents sampled between October 2011 and April 2013 at 7 locations in the Istrian peninsula, were identified morphologically and genetically to minimize misidentification. Serological and molecular techniques were used to determine seroprevalence of infection in rodents and to detect viral RNAs. Serological testing was performed by immune fluorescence assay for detection of LCMV and TBEV specific antibodies. Real-time RT PCR was used for the detection of LCMV nucleoprotein gene and TBEV 3′ non-coding region. Data were statistically analysed using SPSS statistic v2.0.ResultsOut of 82 rodent sera tested, the presence of LCMV antibodies was demonstrated in 24.93%. The highest prevalence of LCMV infection was found in commensal Mus musculus (47.37%), followed by 11.53%, 19.04% and 25% prevalence of infection in A. agrarius, A. flavicolis and A. sylvaticus, respectively. The highest prevalence of infection in rodents (53.33%) was found in locations with large waste sites and high anthropogenic influence. LCMV seroprevalence was significantly lower in rodents sampled from natural habitats. Viral nucleic acids were screened in 46 samples but yielded no amplicons of LCMV or TBEV. In addition, TBEV specific antibodies were not detected.ConclusionsIllegal waste sites have considerable impact on the area where they are located. Results have shown that the transmission of human pathogens can be significantly increased by the presence of waste sites. However, the pathogen must be endemic in the environment where the waste site is located. The introduction of a human pathogen as a consequence of the waste site in the area of interest could not be proven.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12985-017-0798-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), a zoonotic flavivirus that occurs on the Eurasian continent and causes tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in humans, is considered medically the most important arthropod vector transmitted virus in Europe. As such, TBEV is of course not a neglected pathogen. However, the knowledge about TBEV could importantly contribute to the research of other neglected vector borne pathogens. In nature, TBEV is transmitted from tick to tick via vertebrates in a process named co-feeding which is independent of a systemic viraemia in vertebrates. Therefore the ticks are the reservoirs as well as the vectors for TBEV, while the vertebrate is considered the transient bridge in transmission and maintenance of TBEV.Slovenia is an endemic country for TBEV with approximately 300 cases reported annually and incidence around 14 per 100,000 inhabitants. It was shown, that TBEV in Slovenia is maintained in tick-rodent-deer cycle. TBEV viraemic rodents of Myodes and Apodemus species were described previously in Slovenia. We were interested whether TBEV could be present in Mus species which share a living habitat with Apodemus mice in illegal waste sites. Thus we collected 83 samples of Mus and Apodemus species from different dump sites in Slovenia and Croatia. The presence of TBEV was determined using molecular techniques. Total RNA was extracted from spleen samples using RTP Pathogen Kit (Invitek-Stratec) and tested with real time RT-PCR specific for TBEV-Eur subtype. All samples were negative which could be explained by the fact that testing area was in the part of Slovenia with low incidence of TBE. However, distinctive samples were also tested with universal primers for amplification of flavivirus genome. Six amplicons of correct size were seen on agarose gel and are in the process of sequencing to reveal the identity of detected flavivirus.