Parasites of Native and Invasive Rodents in Chile: Ecological and Human Health Needs.

Carlos Landaeta-Aqueveque,Lucila Moreno Salas,Analía Henríquez,María C Silva-De La Fuente,Daniel González-Acuña

doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.643742

Carlos Landaeta-Aqueveque, Lucila Moreno Salas + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.643742

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Abstract

Invasive populations are a threat to biodiversity, resulting in the loss of species, and also a threat to human health, participating in the reservoir of diseases. Rodents are among the most important invasive species worldwide. Chile is a country that features island conditions in terms of geography and has been widely invaded by allochthonous rodents. In this mini-review, we updated the literature on macro-parasites infecting both native and invasive rodents and of vector-borne pathogens in continental Chile in order to assess the relative importance of invasive rodents from both ecological and public health points of view. A total of 174 parasite species were found, with Siphonaptera representing the most diverse group. When examining how parasites are shared between native and introduced rodents, the analysis suggests that parasites circulate freely within recipient populations, and are not significantly transmitted from source populations. Further, generalist parasites are typically more prone to being shared between native and introduced rodents. Most zoonotic parasites were reported in invasive rodents, suggesting that these rodents must represent a public health concern. Although several vector-borne pathogens have been reported in rodents or ectoparasites, most of the recently emerging research has illustrated that there is a lack of evidence on rodent–vector-borne zoonoses in most pathogens.

Highlights

Invasive populations represent one of the most important threats to biodiversity [1], either interacting directly with native fauna [2], or by sharing their co-introduced parasites with them [3, 4]
Rats and mice were introduced into and have colonized the country, invading several environments and harboring zoonotic pathogens [10, 11]; studies on zoonotic macroparasites have remained neglected over the last few decades, as studies related to vector-borne zoonoses have been the main focus in public health
Most of the rodent-borne zoonoses reviewed represent cases of parasitosis transmitted by invasive rodents, enhancing their importance for human health

Summary

Introduction

Invasive populations represent one of the most important threats to biodiversity [1], either interacting directly with native fauna [2], or by sharing their co-introduced parasites with them [3, 4]. Invasive animal populations can serve as a threat to human health, either co-introducing zoonotic parasites [5] or hosting previously existing zoonotic parasites [6, 7]. Rats and mice were introduced into and have colonized the country, invading several environments and harboring zoonotic pathogens [10, 11]; studies on zoonotic macroparasites have remained neglected over the last few decades, as studies related to vector-borne zoonoses (by microparasites) have been the main focus in public health. This review revisits the raw data from previously published articles to explore future pathways for the study of parasites in the inter-phase of native and introduced rodents

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