BARTONELLA SPP. INFECTION IN MALAGASY RODENTS: A STUDY ON BARTONELLA SPP. PREVALENCE, STRAIN DIVERSITY, AND DYNAMICS IN R. RATTUS IN MADAGASCAR

Abstract

Rodents have been recognized to carry a wide diversity of Bartonella genetic variants which have the potential for human zoonosis. However, little is known on how rodent individuals of different location, sex, and age might be affected by Bartonella and different Bartonella strains. This study collected kidney samples from two species of invasive rodent (Rattus rattus and Mus musculus) from the Ankazobe and Ranomafana regions in Madagascar for Bartonella testing. R. rattus was found to carry two variants of B. elizabethae (1 & 2), B. phoceensis, and B. rattimassiliensis. Bartonella was not detected in M. musculus. Increasing age in male and female R rattus showed increasing prevalence of Bartonella spp. in both regions, likely explained by increasing social behavior and risk of infection with increasing age. Increasing age in R. rattus showed increasing prevalence of B. phoceenis in both regions, and decreasing prevalence of B. elizabethae, indicating possible strain replacement dynamics in Bartonella spp.. Finally, this study aimed to find a transmission model to predict likelihood of infection of rodents in certain ages. With numerous recently described species and current research, Bartonella research can be further developed and used to understand zoonotic disease dynamics in vectors, reservoirs and humans in future studies.