Rat-borne diseases at the horizon. A systematic review on infectious agents carried by rats in Europe 1995–2016

ABSTRACT

To investigate the spectrum of rat-borne pathogens circulating in Europe a systematic review spanning across 55 European countries during the years 1995–2016 was performed. The study surveyed viruses, bacteria, macroparasites and unicellular eukaryotes (protozoa). Fifty-three different infectious agents, all with zoonotic potential, were reported to be carried by commensal rats; 48 by the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and 20 by the black rat (R. rattus). There was a tendency for rural areas to harbour more rat-borne microbes than urban areas regarding the brown rat, but the opposite could be observed for the black rat. The study clearly indicated that an improved surveillance on wild rats is needed in Europe, and further indicated the pathogens and geographical areas where the major focus is required. For example, six zoonotic microbes seemed to be clearly more geographically widespread in Europe than others; virulent or resistant E. coli, pathogenic Leptospira spp., Hymenolepis diminuta, H. nana, Capillaria hepatica and Toxoplasma gondii.

KEYWORDS:

• Capillaria
• Europe
• Hymenolepis
• Leptospira
• Rattus
• zoonoses

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet No: 2017-05807).

Notes on contributors

Tanja Maria Strand

Tanja Strand defended her PhD in population biology at Uppsala University. Since then, she has performed two postdocs in infection biology. Currently, Tanja Strand is Coordinator of One Health Sweden and Scientific administrator at the National Veterinary Institute.

Åke Lundkvist

Åke Lundkvist is Professor in virology and one of the founders of the Zoonosis Science Center at Uppsala University. His work focus on basic virological, pathogenetic, ecological and epidemiological studies on zoonotic viruses and their vectors and hosts.