Infectious Disease Reports 2017; volume 9:6900 Epidemiological distribution of rodents in the three provinces were identi- of rodents as potent reservoirs fied as Rattus (R.) norvegicus (67.3%), R. rat- Correspondence: Hossein Nahrevanian, tus (13.6%), Apodemus sylvaticus (13.9%), Department of Parasitology, Pasteur Institute for infectious diseases in the Arvicola (1%), Mus musculus (0.3%), of Iran, Tehran, Iran. provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan Nesokia indica (2.5%), Cricetulus migrates Tel./Fax: +98.21.66968855. and Golestan, northern Iran (0.7%) and Rhombomys opimus (0.7%). The E-mail: [email protected] results of this study determined the geograph- ic distribution of the rodents in the three Key words: Rodents; Iran; Infectious Disease; 1 Reservoir; Mazandaran; Gilan; Golestan. Behzad Esfandiari, northern provinces of Iran. It is indicated the 2 Hossein Nahrevanian, association of various distribution and diver- 3 Acknowledgments: this study was supported Mohammad Reza Pourshafie, sity of rodents with provincial location. The 4 by Pasteur Institute of Iran, in collaboration Mohammad Mehdi Gouya, overall distribution frequency of eight genera with the Microbiology Department, Razi 5 1 Pejvak Khaki, Ehsan Mostafavi, of rodents was recognized in the above three Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Karaj, Jamshid Darvish,6 Hamed Hanifi1 provinces geographical locations. This study Iran and the Centre for Diseases Control and 1Department of Epidemiology and confirms epidemiological distribution of var- Prevention, Ministry of Health, Tehran, Iran. ious rodents as potent reservoirs for infec- Results presented in this article are part of a Biostatistics, 2Department of tious diseases, such as leptospirosis, salmo- PhD thesis (Behzad Esfandiari) from the Parasitology, 3Department of nellosis, tularemia, leishmaniasis, etc. in the Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran under Bacteriology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, three provinces. the second and third authors’ supervision. Tehran; 4Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health, Contributions: HN, MRP, study concept and Tehran; 5Department of Microbiology, design; BE, HH, field sampling; EM, analysis and interpretation of data; MMG, field man- Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Introduction agement; PK, laboratory diagnosis; JD, roden- Institute, Agricultural Research, Rodents are mammals of the order tology. All authors read and approved the final Education and Extension Organization manuscript. 6 Rodentia. Order of rodents comprises more only (AREEO), Karaj; Department of than 2000 species and approximately 30 Conflict of interest: the authors declare no Biology, Ferdowsi University families.1 There are many biological and eco- potential conflict of interest. of Mashhad, Iran logical differences among rodents. Many variations are observed in shape, sizeuse and Funding: this work was entirely supported by weight of them; whereas the smallest rodents the Pasteur Institute of Iran, (Project No. 739). (mice), weighing 5 grams and the largest 1 Abstract rodent, weighing more than 70 kg. Some Received for publication: 22 September 2016. species live above the trees while others live Revision received: 10 November 2016. underground and are rarely out of the Accepted for publication: 30 January 2017. Rodents are mammals that comprise ground. Some of the rodents are dependent more than 2000 species and approximately 30 on the water and they live behind the water, This work is licensed under a Creative families. There are many morphological and while others are accustomed to living in dry Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). ecological differences among them as varia- and desert areas. The different behaviors tions in their shape, size, weight and habitat. observed among various rodents, particularly ©Copyright B. Esfandiari et al., 2017 In addition to significant economic losses, various and different motor behaviors and Licensee PAGEPress, Italy rodents have a major role in the dissemination characteristicscommercial such as jumping, climbing, Infectious Disease Reports 2017; 9:6900 of infectious diseases caused by viruses, bac- swimming, running, fast movements, dig- doi:10.4081/idr.2017.6900 teria, parasites or other micro-organisms. ging and moving underground. Also, there Rodents are important reservoirs of diseases are different systems in rodents in terms of which have been observed in many cities of social life. Rodents are able to eat a variety of Iran provinces especially along CaspianNon Sea foods, including animal and plants such as estimated that each year, approximately 20 border to Alborz Mountain. The aim of this roots, stems, bark, leaves, fruits and seeds of percent of the world’s food supply is con- study is to assess the geographical distribu- plants, insects and small creatures, and even sumed or damaged by rodents.5,6 According tion of rodents in three provinces of northern rodent droppings and other animals. They to the World Health Organization (WHO) part of Iran as reservoir of potential endemic play a special role in the chain in natural report, about 3 million tons of food (5% of infectious diseases. Rodents in 10 major parts communities; they are considered as food for the total global food production) annually of each of the three provinces of Mazandaran, many species of predators and on the other destroyed by mice that will be adequate to Gilan and Golestan, northern Iran were col- hand, by feeding on small creatures such as feed 130 million hungry people.7 lected and a total of 404 rodents were trapped insects and arthropods, they control their Diseases carried by rodents include viral, alive. They were determined by the key char- populations.1,2 Rats by feeding on crops, live- bacterial, parasitic infections.5,8 The disease acteristics such as gender, genus, species, dif- stock, stored grains and foods can cause loss can be transmitted to humans in a number of ferent locations and topological situation. of economic resources and also by chewing ways including animal bite, contact with ani- Statistical analysis was performed to charac- wires and telephone and damaging to electri- mal waste, eating food or water contaminat- terize the study sample and to correlate all cal appliances, they expose installations and ed by rodent waste or through parasites that variables and parameters. The distribution houses to great risks.3,4 Rodents can do dam- use rodents and humans as hosts e.g. fleas frequencies of three, five and six genera of age to products in a wide range, before and and ticks.9,10 rodents were identified in Mazandaran, Gilan after harvest. In addition to significant eco- Rats are potential important reservoirs and Golestan provinces respectively. The nomic losses, rodents have a major role in of infectious disease from human in Iran.3 overall distribution frequency of eight genera the dissemination of infectious diseases. It is Due to the spread of these diseases there is [page 62] [Infectious Disease Reports 2017; 9:6900] Article a strengthen fight against rats.11 Iran, lying tail, claw, fur, nose, vibrissa, digit and aimed to correlate all statistical variables on the crossroad of several biogeographic pinna. and parameters. regions, supports a diverse mammal fauna. More than 79 rodent species have been 12 Data analysis recorded from Iran (38.2% of species). Statistical analysis was performed in Three species of the genus Rattus Fisher, two stages using SPSS version 17. The first Results 1803 have been reported from Iran: R. was a descriptive which aimed to character- The distribution frequency of three gen- norvegicus (brown rat, Berkenhout, 1769) , R. rattus (black rat, Linnaeus, 1758) and R. ize the study sample. The second stage was era of rodents identified in Mazandaran pyctoris (Himalayan rat, Hodgson, 1845) The first two species of Rattus genre have a worldwide distribution. The brown rat has also moved from central Asia to the border of the Caspian Sea and to Gorgan and Rasht cities in the north.13 There are numerous cytogenetic studies about Black rats. These studies indicate the value of diversity chro- mosomes within this genus.14 Rodents are reported to be almost one third of the species of mammals in Iran.1,2 The temper- ate and humid climate ranges from the plains along Caspian Sea border to northern foothills of Alborz Mountainin Iran. In this region, rice planting is the predominant occupation and the most peasants are farm- only ers and keep one or more livestock in their houses. In mentioned region, surface waters or rivers are mainly used for agriculture.3 The aim of this paper is to assess the geo- use graphical and epidemiological distribution of various rodents as potential reservoirs and vector for human infectious diseases in the three provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan, northern Iran (Middle East – Asian region). Materials and Methods Study area and sample collection commercial This study was performed during the summer of 2013 close to Caspian sea (Latitude 41°N and Longitude 50°E; the average altitude above sea levelNon is 1305 m/4281 ft) in three northern provinces of Iran, Mazandaran Province (Sari, Nour and Figure 1. Map of study area in the three provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan, Noshahr districts), Gilan Province northern Iran. (Roodsar, Langerood, Lahijan, Rasht, Fooman, Some’esara, Masouleh, Bandar Table 1. The genus and number of the rodents in three northern provinces of Iran. Anzali, Talysh and Astara) and Golestan Rodent species