Irruptive mammal host populations shape tularemia epidemiology

• Published in: PLoS pathogens Vol. 13; no. 11; p. e1006622
• Main Authors: Luque-Larena, Juan J, Mougeot, François, Arroyo, Beatriz, Vidal, Mª Dolors, Rodríguez-Pastor, Ruth, Escudero, Raquel, Anda, Pedro, Lambin, Xavier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.11.2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Biology and Life Sciences; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Francisella tularensis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Microtus arvalis; Pearls; People and places; Rodentia; Rodents; Small mammals; Tularemia; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1553-7374; 1553-7366; 1553-7374
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006622

When the rodents reach peak densities (>1,000 voles/ha), up to 33% of them are infected with tularemia. [...]as vole numbers increase, so does the bacterium in the environment. Terrestrial vectors such as voles and hares evidently transmit this zoonosis, but a human clinical case involving aquatic crayfish handling was also described in the same region in 2001 during an interepizootic period [12], implying that the bacterium is also present in water. [...]both aquatic and terrestrial agents of tularemia coexist in nature in Northwest Spain. Fluctuating mammalian populations shape tularemia epidemiology It has long been accepted that fluctuations in the abundance of wild herbivorous mammals (hares, voles) play a key role in tularemia epidemiology in European countries accumulating the largest numbers of clinical cases (i.e., Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain) [6, 8, 14, 16, 18]. Extending vole monitoring to include tularemia, particularly during increasing and outbreak population phases, would provide crucial data to parameterize spatial-temporal models of disease risk and help predict when people engaging in nonoptional (e.g., crop harvesting) and optional (e.g., hare hunting, crayfish fishing) risky activities should adopt appropriate risk-minimizing techniques (e.g., farmers using breathing masks during summer harvests in vole outbreaks, hunters and fisherman using gloves during hare butchering or crayfish cleaning; Fig 1).