Experimental Evidence for Reduced Rodent Diversity Causing Increased Hantavirus Prevalence

نویسندگان

  • Gerardo Suzán
  • Erika Marcé
  • J. Tomasz Giermakowski
  • James N. Mills
  • Gerardo Ceballos
  • Richard S. Ostfeld
  • Blas Armién
  • Juan M. Pascale
  • Terry L. Yates
چکیده

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases have become a major global environmental problem with important public health, economic, and political consequences. The etiologic agents of most emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and anthropogenic environmental changes that affect wildlife communities are increasingly implicated in disease emergence and spread. Although increased disease incidence has been correlated with biodiversity loss for several zoonoses, experimental tests in these systems are lacking. We manipulated small-mammal biodiversity by removing non-reservoir species in replicated field plots in Panama, where zoonotic hantaviruses are endemic. Both infection prevalence of hantaviruses in wild reservoir (rodent) populations and reservoir population density increased where small-mammal species diversity was reduced. Regardless of other variables that affect the prevalence of directly transmitted infections in natural communities, high biodiversity is important in reducing transmission of zoonotic pathogens among wildlife hosts. Our results have wide applications in both conservation biology and infectious disease management.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Hantaviruses and the dilution effect in Southeast Asia

Background Until recently hantaviruses were poorly studied in Southeast Asian countries. To better understand the ecology of hantaviruses in Southeast Asia, we conducted a large scale serological survey of rodent species in several locations in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Recent articles indicated that the dilution effect (whereby pathogen prevalence increases with decreasing biodiversity) app...

متن کامل

Serologic and genetic identification of Peromyscus maniculatus as the primary rodent reservoir for a new hantavirus in the southwestern United States.

An outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern United States was etiologically linked to a newly recognized hantavirus. Knowledge that hantaviruses are maintained in rodent reservoirs stimulated a field and laboratory investigation of 1696 small mammals of 31 species. The most commonly captured rodent, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), had the highest antibody pre...

متن کامل

A midcourse assessment of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Our understanding of infectious diseases follows a natural course—the initial discovery of the cause, the exploration of the natural history and biology of the etiologic agent, and finally the cure or solution. The discovery of Sin Nombre virus (SNV), one of the viruses causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), is unparalleled in terms of the rapid progress of the scientific investigation le...

متن کامل

Rodent Species Distribution and Hantavirus Seroprevalence in Residential and Forested areas of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Rodents belong to the order Rodentia, which consists of three families in Borneo (i.e., Muridae, Sciuridae and Hystricidae). These include rats, mice, squirrels, and porcupines. They are widespread throughout the world and considered pests that harm humans and livestock. Some rodent species are natural reservoirs of hantaviruses (Family: Bunyaviridae) that can cause zoonotic diseases in humans....

متن کامل

Immunological Mechanisms Mediating Hantavirus Persistence in Rodent Reservoirs

Hantaviruses, similar to several emerging zoonotic viruses, persistently infect their natural reservoir hosts, without causing overt signs of disease. Spillover to incidental human hosts results in morbidity and mortality mediated by excessive proinflammatory and cellular immune responses. The mechanisms mediating the persistence of hantaviruses and the absence of clinical symptoms in rodent re...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • PLoS ONE

دوره 4  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2009