The potential for hantaviral transmission among wild Norway rats by wounding associated with aggressive interactions was evaluated using a prospective sero-epidemiological study coupled with a mark-release-recapture survey. There was a significant association between an animal's serological status and the presence of wounds. Longitudinal studies of marked and released animals showed seroconvers...

Black rats ( Rattus rattus ) and their stomach nematodes (Mastophorus muris) were historically introduced to islets at Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific Line Islands. To investigate patterns of parasitism, we trapped rats and quantified nematodes on 13 islets of various sizes and habitat types. Most rats were parasitized (59%) with an average of 12 worms per infected rat. Islet size did not ...

Coal is a mixture of a variety of compounds containing mutagenic and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Exposure to coal is considered as an important non-cellular and cellular source of reactive oxygen species that can induce DNA damage. In addition, spontaneous combustion can occur in coal mining areas, further releasing compounds with detrimental effects on the environment. In th...

A survey of ectoparasites on rodents was carried out bimonthly from April 2008 to March 2009 in 3 districts of Sukhothai Province, northern Thailand. A total of 130 rodents comprising 8 species of hosts were captured and examined for ectoparasites. The hosts examined were Bandicota indica, Bandicota savilei, Rattus losea, Rattus rattus, Rattus exulans, Rattus norvegicus, Menetes berdmorei and T...

1. Swanepoel R, Coetzer JAW. Rift Valley fever. In: Coetzer JAW, Thomson GR, Tustin RC, editors. Infectious diseases of livestock. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press; 2004. p. 1037–70. 2. Olive MM, Goodman SM, Reynes JM. The role of the wild mammals in the maintenance of Rift Valley fever virus. J Wildl Dis. 2012;48:241–66. 3. Fontenille D. Arbovirus transmission cycles in Madagascar [in Fren...

Rickettsia typhi is the causal agent of murine typhus; a worldwide zoonotic and vector-borne infectious disease, commonly associated with the presence of domestic and wild rodents. Human cases of murine typhus in the state of Yucatán are frequent. However, there is no evidence of the presence of Rickettsia typhi in mammals or vectors in Yucatán. The presence of Rickettsia in rodents and their e...

Effect of oral administration of aqueous leaf extract of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) (250 mg/kg body weight/day) on the male reproductive organs of the wild Indian house rat (Rattus rattus) was investigated and its activity was noticed at 30th and 45th days of post treated animals. The treatment had no severe effect on body weight and the reproductive organs weight of rats. In treated rat...