Prevalence and detail morphological identification of helminths of murine rodents in Dhaka city, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Rodents are common pests that transmit various deadly pathogens to humans. Here we have studied the helminth parasites of rodents from different ecological niches in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. The gastrointestinal helminths were investigated from a total of 70 rodents, namely Bandicota bengalensis (20), Rattus rattus (15), Rattus norvegicus (25) and Mus musculus (10). The rodents were live-captured from houses in the slum areas (20), stationary shops (20), residential buildings (15) and rice fields (15). The overall prevalence of helminth infection was 71.43%. The highest prevalence was found in R. norvegicus (84%), followed by B. bengalensis (75%), R. rattus (66.66%) and M. musculus (40%). Among different areas of Dhaka city, the highest prevalence recorded in slum areas (85%). Out of 50 rodents, 36 (72%) had mixed endoparasitic infection whereas only 14 (28%) rodents had single infection. The prevalence of endoparasitic infection in male (66%) rodents was higher than that of female (34%). The parasites detected from the rodents were Heterakis spumosa (60%), Hymenolepis diminuta (47.14%), Moniliformis moniliformis (42.85%), Taenia taeniaeformis (35%) and Gongylonema neoplasticum (34.28%). To the best of our knowledge, G. neoplasticum is going to be reported for the first time from rodents in Bangladesh. Except H. spumosa, all the parasites recovered have public health significance. Therefore, proper attention needs to be paid for the prevention of rodent borne zoonosis through the control of rodents.