Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2022 Aug;69(5):468-474. doi: 10.1111/zph.12936. Epub 2022 Mar 6.
Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) inhabit cities worldwide and live in close association with humans. Studies of urban rat zoonoses often rely on live-trapping, with fewer studies using rats sourced through lethal pest control interventions. Our objectives were to evaluate the utility of rats collected by pest control professionals for zoonotic pathogen surveillance and determine whether we could detect Leptospira interrogans and Streptobacillus moniliformis in pest control sourced rats. Rat carcasses were submitted from Windsor, Canada by pest control professionals between November 2018 and March 2020. Submissions were categorized by season and land use. Necropsies were performed to classify carcass quality, collect tissue samples, and record demographic data. The association between carcass quality and the ability to collect tissue samples for pathogen surveillance was assessed via an exact logistic regression model. Using PCR, a subset of kidney and spleen samples were tested for L. interrogans and S. moniliformis, respectively. Our sample of pest control sourced rats had similar sex and age distributions to those of live-trapping studies. Rats were primarily submitted from residential and industrial locations during fall, winter, and spring, which may reflect pest control service areas and peak business periods, rather than rat distribution. Of 124 submissions, 98 (79.0%) of rats showed only mild decomposition. The odds of collecting all tissue samples were reduced for fair compared to good-quality carcasses (OR: 0.029; 95% CI: 0-0.25; p = .0009) and for poor compared to fair-quality carcasses (OR: 0.048; 95% CI: 0.00085-0.53; p = .0065). Leptospira interrogans and S. moniliformis were detected in 9.1% (4/44) and 27.3% (15/55) of a subset of rats tested, respectively. Our results suggest that pest control sourced rats are suitable for surveillance for multiple zoonotic pathogens in urban environments. This method of rat collection may provide preliminary information to guide more detailed ecological studies.
挪威鼠（Rattus norvegicus）栖息在世界各地的城市中，与人类生活密切相关。城市鼠类传染病的研究通常依赖于活捕，而较少使用通过致命的害虫控制干预措施获取的老鼠进行研究。我们的目标是评估害虫控制专业人员收集的老鼠在人畜共患病病原体监测中的效用，并确定我们是否能够检测到钩端螺旋体和念珠状链杆菌。2018 年 11 月至 2020 年 3 月期间，害虫控制专业人员从加拿大温莎市提交了老鼠尸体。提交的样本按季节和土地使用情况进行了分类。进行尸检以对尸体质量进行分类，收集组织样本并记录人口统计数据。通过精确的逻辑回归模型评估了尸体质量与收集组织样本进行病原体监测能力之间的关系。使用 PCR，对一部分肾脏和脾脏样本分别进行了钩端螺旋体和念珠状链杆菌的检测。我们从害虫控制机构获取的老鼠样本的性别和年龄分布与活捕研究相似。老鼠主要是在秋季、冬季和春季从住宅和工业场所提交的，这可能反映了害虫控制服务区域和高峰期业务，而不是老鼠的分布。在 124 份提交的样本中，98 份（79.0%）老鼠仅显示轻度分解。与高质量的尸体相比，收集所有组织样本的可能性降低了（OR：0.029；95%CI：0-0.25；p=0.0009），与低质量的尸体相比，收集所有组织样本的可能性降低了（OR：0.048；95%CI：0.00085-0.53；p=0.0065）。对一部分老鼠样本进行检测后，发现 9.1%（4/44）的样本中存在钩端螺旋体，27.3%（15/55）的样本中存在念珠状链杆菌。我们的研究结果表明，害虫控制机构收集的老鼠适合在城市环境中监测多种人畜共患病病原体。这种收集老鼠的方法可以提供初步信息，以指导更详细的生态研究。
