Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Tadin, Ante
• Turk, Nenad
• Korva, Miša
• Margaletić, Josip
• Beck, Relja
• Vucelja, Marko
• Habuš, Josipa
• Svoboda, Petra
• Zupanc, Tatjana Avšič
• Henttonen, Heikki
• Markotić, Alemka

Titel

Multiple co-infections of rodents with hantaviruses, Leptospira, and Babesia in Croatia

Ist Teil von

• Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.), 2012-05, Vol.12 (5), p.388-392

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Hantaviruses, Leptospira spp., and Babesia spp. are rodent-borne pathogens present worldwide. We studied multiple co-infections of small rodents in Croatia with all three pathogens. Twenty-eight Apodemus flavicollis and 16 Myodes glareolus were tested for the presence of hantavirus RNA by real-time RT-PCR, Leptospira strains by renoculture method and Babesia DNA by PCR. Anti-hantavirus antibodies and anti-Leptospira antibodies were detected by serological methods. Very high infection rates with each pathogen were found in A. flavicollis: 20 of 28 rodents (71%) were infected with Dobrava virus, 13 rodents (46%) were infected with Leptospira, and 5 rodents (18%) were infected with Babesia. Multiple co-infections with all three pathogens were found in 3 of 28 (11%) A. flavicollis animals, suggesting that the same rodent host can be infected with several pathogens at the same time. Dual infections with both hantaviruses and Leptospira were found in 7 of 44 rodents (16%), with hantaviruses and Babesia in 2 rodents (5%), and double infection with both Leptospira and Babesia were found in 1 rodent (2%). Since hantaviruses, Leptospira, and Babesia have similar geographical distributions, it is to be expected that in other parts of the world multiple co-infections, representing a serious threat to public health, can be found.