The monitoring of rodents revealed that 34% of the examined rodents in Latvia are infected with leptospirosis, reported the scientific institute for food safety, animal health, and environment Bior.
Monitoring has also revealed the circulation of hantaviruses — 7% of rodents tested positive for the pan-hantavirus, including the potentially dangerous hantavirus "Dobravka–Belgrade" identified for humans.
The causative agents of Lyme disease were most frequently found in rats. In some cases, antibodies to toxoplasmosis and the zoonotic dwarf tapeworm Hymenolepis nana were also detected in rodents, the institute noted.
There is good news as well. Bior claims that no causative agents of tularemia, hepatitis E, Q fever, and trichinosis were found during the monitoring, indicating the absence of these infections in the studied rodent populations during the monitoring period.
Bior Director Olga Valcinya noted that the high prevalence of leptospirosis among the rodent population explains the previously observed increase in morbidity among humans.
According to Valcinya, it is important to consider that the pathogens of infections can enter the environment through rodent excretions, so the risk of infection exists both through contact with contaminated water and through the consumption of inadequately processed products stored in places accessible to rodents.
A total of 129 rodents, including mice, rats, and water voles, were studied in Latvia as part of the monitoring conducted by Bior.
