Rabbits and hares Old World mice

Public Health Significance of Urban Pests 451 Another important group of sigmodontine rodents are the wood rats Neotoma spp., which occur throughout much of North America. A number of species in the western United States are commonly found to be infected with Y. pestis and act as significant hosts for this bacterium and certain species of fleas that transmit it Gage, Ostfeld Olson, 1995. Wood rats are also hosts of a recently recognized arenavirus Whitewater Arroyo virus, which is of unknown significance to human health Fulhorst et al., 1996; Kosoy et al., 1996. Moreover, these rats are important hosts in the far western United States for the immature stages of western black-legged ticks, which transmit LB spirochetes B. burgdorferi , as well as the HGA agent A. phagocytophilum Piesman, 2002. Borrelia bis- setti, another spirochete, which was initially confused with B. burgdorferi s.s., occurs in wood rats, but at present its importance to human health is uncertain Maupin et al., 1994; Eisen et al., 2003. Wood rats have also been found seropositive for hepatitis E virus in New Mexico Favorov et al., 2000. Finally, wood rats have been reported to serve as hosts for the protozoon parasite Trypanosoma cruzi that causes Chagas disease. Trypanosoma cruzi is transmitted by a type of reduviid bug that can be found living within the large stick nests built by these animals Peterson et al., 2002. Four species of cotton rats occur in the temperate regions of North America, but only one of these, the hispid cotton rat, is likely to pose a significant threat to human health. Hispid cotton rats can occur near human habitations and are extremely abundant in much of the south-eastern and south-central United States, including some largely urban areas with appropriate habitat and other sites undergoing urbanization. In some regions they are the major hosts of the immature American dog tick, the primary vector of the RMSF agent R. rickettsii in the eastern United States Gage, Burgdorfer Hopla, 1990; Gage, Hopla Schwan, 1992. Recently, Kosoy and colleagues 1997, 1999, 2004a,b reported that cotton rats are hosts to four uncharacterized Bartonella genogroups. Hispid cotton rats also are known to be susceptible to infection with B. burgdorferi Burgdorfer Gage, 1987.

13.4.4.10. Rabbits and hares

Tularaemia, which is often referred to as rabbit fever, is frequently found in rabbits and hares, and these animals are common sources of human infection Hopla, 1974; Jellison, 1974; Hopla Hopla, 1994; Petersen Schriefer, 2005. In the United States, rabbits are the source of tularaemia infection in 90 of human cases, 70 of which result from contact with the genus Sylvilagus. Jackrabbits also are an important source of infection in some areas of the United States, but are a minor factor nationally, and exposure to snows- hoe hares Lepus americanus account for less than 1 of cases of human tularaemia in the United States. In Europe, tularaemia has been detected in brown hares Lepus europaeus, mountain hares Lepus timidus, and rabbits such as the European rabbit. High rates of mortality were usually observed among all these species, with death occurring 7–19 days after exposure. In Europe, die-offs of hares often followed epizootics in small rodents Borg et al., 1969. Rabbits have often been found to be naturally infected with Y. pestis in North America, and numerous human plague cases have been associated with handling these animals Kartman, 1960; von Reyn et al., 1976. In most instances, these cases have occurred in Non-commensal rodents and lagomorphs 450 vegetables contaminated with Y. pseudotuberculosis-infected rodent urine Daiter, Polotskii Tsareva, 1987. Microtusvoles also are reported as hosts of L. interroganssero- types in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Switzerland.

13.4.4.7. Old World mice

Species of Apodemus are particularly important hosts for many tick-borne pathogens, and at least 23 species of ticks are reported on the wood mouse. The most epidemiologically important of these ticks is the castor bean tick, which is the primary vector of LB and TBE in Europe Humair Gern, 2000; Huegli et al., 2002; Charrel et al., 2004. Among the pathogens associated with wood mice are those that cause LB, TBE, Omsk haemor- rhagic fever, Q fever, tularaemia, leptospirosis, bartonellosis, toxoplasmosis, salmonello- sis and infections with hantaviruses. Yellow-necked mice also serve as hosts for the patho- gens that cause leptospirosis, TBE, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, toxoplasmosis and a severe form of HFRS caused by Dobrava virus. The yellow-necked mouse also is a host of B. garinii Huegli et al., 2002, a genospecies that has been cultivated frequently from the cerebrospinal fluid of LB patients from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia. These mice also are important hosts of larval and nymphal castor-bean ticks.

13.4.4.8. Dormice