Prevalence of haemoparasites, leptospires and coccobacilli with potential for human infection in the blood of rodents and shrews from selected localities in Tanzania, Namibia and Swaziland

Katakweba, Abdul; Mulungu, Loth S.; Eiseb, Seth J.; Mahlaba, Themb’alilahlwa A. M.; Makundi, Rhodes H.; Massawe, Apia W.; Borremans, Benny; Belmain, Steven R.

doi:10.1080/15627020.2012.11407530

Cited by 16 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…Serogroup Australis had the highest seroprevalence (18.84%), followed by Icterohaemorrhagie (1.93%) and Grippotyphosa (0.48%), in the tested rodents in the study area. These findings are in agreement with the findings in previous studies conducted in different parts of Tanzania [ 11 , 7 ]. Interactions among rodents, humans, domestic ruminants and wildlife occur frequently in the study area, as rodents share the same habitat with these animals and humans.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

“…In the East and Central African regions, the disease was reported three decades ago [ 6 ]. The sources of infection for humans and other incidental hosts, such as cattle, pigs, horses, and companion animals, are subclinically infected wild and domestic animals, which are the reservoirs for over 250 known serovars of Leptospira [ 7 ]. Rodents are the most important source of infection for humans and animals [ 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous reports from Tanzania have indicated that leptospiral infection is widely prevalent in humans, livestock, and rodents in some parts of the country [ 13 , 5 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 7 ]. However, a study on leptospirosis in the Katavi region has not been conducted, suggesting that the role of animals in the transmission and maintenance of the infection is not well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predominant Leptospiral Serogroups Circulating among Humans, Livestock and Wildlife in Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem, Tanzania

et al. 2015

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BackgroundLeptospirosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease and a serious, under-reported public health problem, particularly in rural areas of Tanzania. In the Katavi-Rukwa ecosystem, humans, livestock and wildlife live in close proximity, which exposes them to the risk of a number of zoonotic infectious diseases, including leptospirosis.Methodology/Principal FindingsA cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out in the Katavi region, South-west Tanzania, to determine the seroprevalence of Leptospira spp in humans, domestic ruminants and wildlife. Blood samples were collected from humans (n = 267), cattle (n = 1,103), goats (n = 248), buffaloes (n = 38), zebra (n = 2), lions (n = 2), rodents (n = 207) and shrews (n = 11). Decanted sera were tested using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) for antibodies against six live serogroups belonging to the Leptospira spp, with a cutoff point of ≥ 1:160. The prevalence of leptospiral antibodies was 29.96% in humans, 30.37% in cattle, 8.47% in goats, 28.95% in buffaloes, 20.29% in rodents and 9.09% in shrews. Additionally, one of the two samples in lions was seropositive. A significant difference in the prevalence P<0.05 was observed between cattle and goats. No significant difference in prevalence was observed with respect to age and sex in humans or any of the sampled animal species. The most prevalent serogroups with antibodies of Leptospira spp were Sejroe, Hebdomadis, Grippotyphosa, Icterohaemorrhagie and Australis, which were detected in humans, cattle, goats and buffaloes; Sejroe and Grippotyphosa, which were detected in a lion; Australis, Icterohaemorrhagie and Grippotyphosa, which were detected in rodents; and Australis, which was detected in shrews. Antibodies to serogroup Ballum were detected only in humans.ConclusionsThe results of this study demonstrate that leptospiral antibodies are widely prevalent in humans, livestock and wildlife from the Katavi-Rukwa ecosystem. The disease poses a serious economic and public health threat in the study area. This epidemiological study provides information on circulating serogroups, which will be essential in designing intervention measures to reduce the risk of disease transmission.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predominant Leptospiral Serogroups Circulating among Humans, Livestock and Wildlife in Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem, Tanzania

et al. 2015

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“…While there has been a focus on the role of personality in disease transmission in tick ( Boyer et al 2010 ; Patterson and Schulte-Hostedde 2011 ; Bajer et al 2015 ), trematode ( Nakagawa et al 2010 ; Koprivnikar et al 2012 ; Seaman and Briffa 2015 ), and malarial ( Dunn et al 2011 ; Garamszegi et al 2015 ; Garcia-Longoria et al 2015 ) disease systems, more studies are acknowledging the importance of personality in viral models ( Natoli et al 2005 ; Dizney and Dearing 2013 ; Araujo et al 2016 ). Our study provides the first evidence for the existence of personality types in M. natalensis , a significant pest species in sub-Saharan Africa ( Leirs 1995 ), and reservoir host and vector for several important zoonotic infections ( Frame et al1970 ; Isaäcson 1975 ; Günther et al 2009 ; Katakweba et al 2012 ). We found that juveniles were typically more exploratory than adults under laboratory conditions, but also less active in the field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Does exploratory behavior or activity in a wild mouse explain susceptibility to virus infection?

et al. 2017

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Exploration and activity are often described as trade-offs between the fitness benefits of gathering information and resources, and the potential costs of increasing exposure to predators and parasites. More exploratory individuals are predicted to have higher rates of parasitism, but this relationship has rarely been examined for virus infections in wild populations. Here, we used the multimammate mouse Mastomys natalensis to investigate the relationship between exploration, activity, and infection with Morogoro virus (MORV). We characterized individual exploratory behavior (open field and novel object tests) and activity (trap diversity), and quantified the relationship between these traits and infection status using linear regression. We found that M. natalensis expresses consistent individual differences, or personality types, in exploratory behavior (repeatability of 0.30, 95% CI: 0.21–0.36). In addition, we found a significant contrasting effect of age on exploration and activity where juveniles display higher exploration levels than adults, but lower field-activity. There was however no statistical evidence for a behavioral syndrome between these 2 traits. Contrary to our expectations, we found no correlation between MORV infection status and exploratory behavior or activity, which suggests that these behaviors may not increase exposure probability to MORV infection. This would further imply that variation in viral infection between individuals is not affected by between-individual variation in exploration and activity.

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“…Natal multimammate mice ( M. natalensis ) occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and are an important agricultural pest species and natural reservoir hosts for several microparasites that cause disease in humans, including Yersinia pestis (bubonic plague), leptospirosis and several arenaviruses including Lassa virus, which can cause severe haemorrhagic fever in humans [ 28 – 32 ]. Multimammate mouse demography has been studied thoroughly, which allows us to create a simple but accurate demographic model that will serve as a basis for transmission modelling (see below).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The shape of the contact–density function matters when modelling parasite transmission in fluctuating populations

et al. 2017

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Models of disease transmission in a population with changing densities must assume a relation between infectious contacts and density. Typically, a choice is made between a constant (frequency-dependence) and a linear (density-dependence) contact–density function, but it is becoming increasingly clear that intermediate, nonlinear functions are more realistic. It is currently not clear, however, what the exact consequences would be of different contact–density functions in fluctuating populations. By combining field data on rodent host (Mastomys natalensis) demography, experimentally derived contact–density data, and laboratory and field data on Morogoro virus infection dynamics, we explored the effects of different contact–density function shapes on transmission dynamics and invasion/persistence. While invasion and persistence were clearly affected by the shape of the function, the effects on outbreak characteristics such as infection prevalence and seroprevalence were less obvious. This means that it may be difficult to distinguish between the different shapes based on how well models fit to real data. The shape of the transmission–density function should therefore be chosen with care, and is ideally based on existing information such as a previously quantified contact– or transmission–density relationship or the underlying biology of the host species in relation to the infectious agent.

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Prevalence of haemoparasites, leptospires and coccobacilli with potential for human infection in the blood of rodents and shrews from selected localities in Tanzania, Namibia and Swaziland

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Predominant Leptospiral Serogroups Circulating among Humans, Livestock and Wildlife in Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem, Tanzania

Predominant Leptospiral Serogroups Circulating among Humans, Livestock and Wildlife in Katavi-Rukwa Ecosystem, Tanzania

Does exploratory behavior or activity in a wild mouse explain susceptibility to virus infection?

The shape of the contact–density function matters when modelling parasite transmission in fluctuating populations

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