OBJECTIVES Earthquakes are one the most common natural disasters that lead to increased mortality and morbidity from transmissible diseases, partially because the rodents displaced by an earthquake can lead to an increased rate of disease transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of plague and tularemia in rodents in the earthquake zones in southeastern Iran. METHODS ...

In Brants’ whistling rat, Parotomys brantsii, single animals inhabit unusually complex burrow systems containing several nest chambers. We investigated burrow use and examined the effect of ectoparasites on choice of alternative nest chambers by radiotelemetrically monitoring the nocturnal sleeping locations of individual whistling rats, before and after treating them to remove ectoparasites. P...

Nidicolous ectoparasites such as fleas and gamasid mites that feed on small and medium-sized mammals spend much of their time in their hosts' burrows, which provide an environment for living, and often feeding, to their pre-imaginal and/or adult stages. Thus, these ectoparasites should be adapted to environmental conditions in burrows, including high fractional concentrations of CO2 (F(CO2)). W...

Parasitic infections were studied for the first time in an urban population of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) from Doha. Only one species of helminth was found, the cestode Hymenolepis diminuta, and one ectoparasite, the flea Xenopsylla astia, from a sample size of 136 rats (52 males and 84 females). The prevalence of H. diminuta was 17.6%, increasing with host age but not in relation to host s...

doi:10.4102/ojvr.v81i2.722 http://www.ojvr.org Authors: B.M. Hang’ombe1 M. Ziwa2 M. Haule2 I. Nakamura3 K.L. Samui1 D. Kaile4 A.S. Mweene1 B.S. Kilonzo5 E.F. Lyamuya2 M. Matee2 C. Sugimoto3 H. Sawa3 B.W. Wren6 Affiliations: 1School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zambia, Zambia 2Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania 3Hokkaido University Research Center for Zoonosis ...

background: the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of ectoparasite infestations in stray dogs in mazandaran, gilan and qazvin provinces in fall and winter in 2013(december to march). methods: seventy dogs in 2013, from these provinces were examined for ectoparasite infestation and diagnosis of them based on parasitological methods and identification keys was done. results:...

Coming from Crimea, the spread to Western Europe and North Africa during the 1340s. From 1346 to 1352, the plague Black Death killed an estimated 25 40 of Europeans of all age-groups , . 30 to 60 of Europe population. One of the earliest and most widely – % [1 ] i.e % accepted explanations was that God was punishing humanity for their sins. One remedy for the curse was to do penitence. Thus in ...

A high prevalence of Bartonella infection is found in many natural systems; however, the transmission dynamics leading to observations of these infections is not fully understood. The capability of Xenopsylla ramesis fleas to serve as competent vectors of Bartonella sp. OE 1-1 (a strain closely related to the zoonotic Bartonella elizabethae) to Meriones crassus jirds was investigated. Naïve X. ...

To investigate the presence of rickettsioses in rural residents of the central Thai-Myanmar border, we tested the blood of 46 patients with fever. Four patients had murine typhus, three patients had scrub typhus, and eight patients had spotted fever group rickettsioses, including the first case of Rickettsia felis infection reported in Asia.