Journal
ECOHEALTH
Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 771-782Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10393-017-1291-4
Keywords
Fleas; Rattus norvegicus; Rattus rattus; Rodent-borne pathogens; Zoonoses
Funding
- National Science Foundation [BCS-1313703]
- Louisiana Board of Regents
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [5P30 ES009089]
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie
- Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci [1313703] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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It is becoming increasingly likely that rodents will drive future disease epidemics with the continued expansion of cities worldwide. Though transmission risk is a growing concern, relatively little is known about pathogens carried by urban rats. Here, we assess whether the diversity and prevalence of Bartonella bacteria differ according to the (co)occurrence of rat hosts across New Orleans, LA (NO), where both Norway (Rattus norvegicus) and roof rats (Rattus rattus) are found, relative to New York City (NYC) which only harbors Norway rats. We detected human pathogenic Bartonella species in both NYC and New Orleans rodents. We found that Norway rats in New Orleans harbored a more diverse assemblage of Bartonella than Norway rats in NYC and that Norway rats harbored a more diverse and distinct assemblage of Bartonella compared to roof rats in New Orleans. Additionally, Norway rats were more likely to be infected with Bartonella than roof rats in New Orleans. Flea infestation appears to be an important predictor of Bartonella infection in Norway rats across both cities. These findings illustrate that pathogen infections can be heterogeneous in urban rodents and indicate that further study of host species interactions could clarify variation in spillover risk across cities.
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