Leptospirosis is a zoonosis known to be endemic in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, even though clinical reports are uncommon. We investigated leptospira infection in rats purchased in food markets during the rainy season (October) (n=150), as well as those trapped during the dry season (February-March) (n=125) in the region using RT-PCR for the lipL32 gene, confirmed by 16S rRNA, as well as by the...

Effects of social isolation and crowding on sexual beha,·iour in the rat (Rattus norvegicus).The effects of social isolation and crowding on the sexual behaviour of Sprague Dawley male and female rats (Rattus norvegicus) were investigated. The major housing condition effect was found among social isolates. A significant decrease in their non-copulatory activity was observed in both genders when...

Parasitic infections of rodents can compromise scientific research as well as the health of the animals and humans. Based on previous studies, infection rate of parasitic helminths is different in various regions of Iran. The current survey was aimed to determine endoparasitic helminths infection in 138 trapped rodents of Kermanshah county, Iran. Mice and rats were trapped using metal snares fr...

The aim of this study is to phenotypically characterize Klebsiella isolates from rats. A survey  was  conducted on 100 swaps samples  obtained  from  captured  house  rats  in University Abuja main campus May August 2021. Isolation and identification the species was done using conventional cultural biochemical techniques. Of samples analyzed, 20 (20%) wer...

Human activity has facilitated the introduction of a number of alien mammal species to the Galápagos Archipelago. Understanding the phylogeographic history and population genetics of invasive species on the Archipelago is an important step in predicting future spread and designing effective management strategies. In this study, we describe the invasion pathway of Rattus rattus across the Galápa...

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected clinical form of public health importance that is quite prevalent in the northern and eastern parts of Egypt. A comprehensive study over seven years (January 2005-December 2011) was conducted to track CL transmission with respect to both sandfly vectors and animal reservoirs. The study identified six sandfly species collected from different districts ...

Understanding why some exotic species become widespread and abundant in their colonized range is a fundamental issue that still needs to be addressed. Among many hypotheses, newly established host populations may benefit from a "parasite release" through impoverishment of their original parasite communities or reduced infection levels. Moreover, the fitness of competing native hosts may be affe...

BACKGROUND Landscape may affect the distribution of infectious diseases by influencing the population density and dispersal of hosts and vectors. Plague (Yersinia pestis infection) is a highly virulent, re-emerging disease, the ecology of which has been scarcely studied in Africa. Human seroprevalence data for the major plague focus of Madagascar suggest that plague spreads heterogeneously acro...

Mitochondrial DNA from an Old World mouse, Mus musculus, and from an Old World rat, Rattus norvegicus, contain 19 and 22 distinct sites, respectively, for the 8 restriction endonucleases, BamHI, EcoRI, HaeII, HhaI, HincII, HindIII, HpaI and PstI. The relative positions of the sites have been mapped by the study of partial and double enzyme digests. Some sites may been conserverd between the mou...

Some death scene investigations commence without knowledge of the location of the body and/or decomposition site. In these cases, it is necessary to locate the remains or the site where the body decomposed prior to movement. We hypothesized that the burial of a mammalian cadaver will result in the release of ninhydrin reactive nitrogen (NRN) into associated soil and that this reaction might hav...