Researchers have found that the majority of rodent-borne diseases reservoirs live exclusively or periodically in or close to human habitations, exhibit significant population fluctuations, and/or are killed for their meat or fur, according to a global survey.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the necessity for more research into the methods through which diseases propagate among animals. The study shows how the interaction of naturally occurring and human-caused factors influences the likelihood of virus transfer from animals to people.
The “fast life” of rodents, which includes sexual maturity at a young age, several litters per year, and many young per litter, is a key factor in why they are significant disease reservoirs. But why can humans contract infections carried by rodents?
“The majority of rodents that transmit zoonotic pathogens—pathogens that pass from animals to humans—have substantial population fluctuations, occasionally go indoors, or are targeted for meat or fur hunting.” Our findings held true for all pathogen types, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Furthermore, “Frauke Ecke, a senior lecturer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the project’s leader at the University of Helsinki in Finland, says (SLU), with the transmission modes of intermediate, vector involvement, non-close contact, and close contact with the inhalation of contaminated aerosols.
survey of 436 rodent species worldwide
Researchers from SLU, the University of Helsinki, and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in the United States conducted a global quantitative investigation based on information gathered from databases and academic publications for the study that was published in Nature Communications. There are 436 species of rodents included in the study, of which 282 are recognized as reservoirs for zoonotic diseases. The relationship between the rodents’ preferred environments, population fluctuations, human hunting of rodents, and their status as reservoirs was investigated by the researchers.
Rick Ostfeld, the study’s co-leader, describes the data as “extraordinary consistency across geographies, disease systems, and rodent species.”
It is more common in some regions of the world to contract zoonoses from rodents.
Additionally, the researchers have pinpointed areas with a high risk of rodent-borne diseases. The risk extends across a sizable portion of Europe, particularly central and northern Europe, as well as eastern Asia, eastern China, sections of South America, south-east Australia, and the eastern regions of North America.
“There is a high possibility that this rodent carries zoonotic infections if people contact it in these areas,” explains Ecke.
The bank vole in Europe, the deer mouse in North America, and the Azara’s grass mVirusesouse in South America are a few examples of these pathogen-carrying rodents. These animals can go indoors and have significant population changes.
“Particularly large population fluctuations and disturbances to rodents’ natural environment can be used to explain why rodents enter human homes and the area around them.” The movement patterns of these so-called generalist species, or animals that can survive in a variety of settings, are characteristic of their kind. “The most significant pathogen reservoirs are these generalists,” Ecke argues.
