Prospective studies of Bartonella of rodents. Part I. Demographic and temporal patterns in population dynamics

• Published in: Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) Vol. 4; no. 4; p. 285
• Main Authors: Kosoy, Michael, Mandel, Eric, Green, Douglas, Marston, Eric, Childs, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.12.2004
• Subjects: Age Factors; Animals; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Bacteremia - epidemiology; Bacteremia - microbiology; Bacteremia - veterinary; Bartonella - isolation & purification; Bartonella Infections - epidemiology; Bartonella Infections - microbiology; Bartonella Infections - veterinary; Colony Count, Microbial; Demography; Female; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect - veterinary; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Peromyscus - microbiology; Population Dynamics; Prospective Studies; Rodent Diseases - epidemiology; Rodent Diseases - microbiology; Seasons; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Sigmodontinae - microbiology; United States - epidemiology; United States
• ISSN: 1530-3667
• DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2004.4.285

The temporal dynamics of Bartonella infections in a rodent community were described by repeatedly capturing and sampling individual animals. Among six rodent species, from which bartonellae were isolated, cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) accounted for > 98% of the bacteremic animals. All cotton rats captured four or more times were Bartonella-culture positive at least once. The lowest monthly prevalence of Bartonella in cotton rats was in June (49%) and the highest was in October (95%). Prevalence of Bartonella infection increased to > 90% among juvenile and subadult rats before declining to < 40% among the largest-oldest individuals. Bacteremia levels ranged between 40 and 4.0 x 10(6) colony forming units (CFU) per 1 mL of blood. Male cotton rats had significantly higher CFUs than females (p = 0.006). The median of Bartonella bacteremia decreased monotonically by age group among cotton rats. Although Bartonella infections were highly prevalent among cotton rats, only 8.5% of rats had reactive antibodies at titers of > or = 1:32 and none had antibodies titers of > 1:256.