Epidemiology of blood parasitic infections in the urban rat population in peninsular Malaysia

A total of 719 wild rats were captured from four localities representing the west (Kuala Lumpur), east (Kuantan), north (Georgetown) and south (Malacca) to determine the diversity of blood protozoan from the urban wild rat population in peninsular Malaysia. Five rat species were recovered with Rattu...

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Published inTropical biomedicine Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 230 - 240
Main Authors Alias, S N, Sahimin, N, Edah, M A, Mohd-Zain, S N
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malaysia 01.06.2014
Subjects
Animals
Cities - epidemiology
Female
Malaysia - epidemiology
Male
Parasitemia - epidemiology
Parasitemia - veterinary
Plasmodium - isolation & purification
Rats
Rodent Diseases - epidemiology
Rodent Diseases - parasitology
Trypanosoma lewisi - isolation & purification
Malaysia
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Summary:A total of 719 wild rats were captured from four localities representing the west (Kuala Lumpur), east (Kuantan), north (Georgetown) and south (Malacca) to determine the diversity of blood protozoan from the urban wild rat population in peninsular Malaysia. Five rat species were recovered with Rattus rattus diardii being the most dominant species, followed by Rattus norvegicus, Rattus exulans, Rattus annandalei and Rattus argentiventer. Two blood protozoan species were found infecting the rodent population namely, Plasmodium sp. (42.1%) and Trypanosoma lewisi (25.0%). This study reports the presence of Plasmodium sp. for the first time in the rodent population in Malaysia. Two main intrinsic factors were identified affecting the parasitic infections. Trypanosoma lewisi infections were influenced by host age and sex with infections observed higher in male and juvenile rats meanwhile Plasmodium sp. infections were observed almost similar in both sexes. However, infections were higher in sub-adult rats.
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ISSN:0127-5720