Department of Comparative Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, 625 Harrison Street, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Parana, 1540 Funcionarios Street, Curitiba, Paraná 80035-050, Brazil.
J Wildl Dis. 2024 Apr 1;60(2):513-518. doi: 10.7589/JWD-D-23-00079.
Hemotropic mycoplasmas (hemoplasmas) are opportunistic bacteria that attach to the erythrocyte surface, causing infectious anemia in several mammalian species, including rodents. Studies surveying native Azara's agoutis (Dasyprocta azarae) in Brazil are lacking. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess hemoplasmas infection in free-ranging agoutis from an urban environmental conservation area in Curitiba, southern Brazil. Overall, 11/35 (31.43%) agoutis were positive to hemoplasmas by quantitative PCR (cycle threshold≤34.4). Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene indicated Mycoplasma haemomuris infection, closely related to M. haemomuris subsp. ratti, suggesting hemoplasma transmission from urban rats to agoutis. Because the main route of M. haemomuris transmission has been direct rodent-to-rodent infection, the relatively lower positivity that we detected may be the result of low intraspecies contact due to the smaller social units of agoutis, generally consisting of two to four individuals, and low interspecies contact due to only sporadic agouti-rat interactions in urban settings, compared with other rodent species interactions. Further studies should be conducted to determine whether the hemoplasma infection that we found can cause clinical onset and life-threatening anemia in agoutis.
血源支原体（hemoplasmas）是一种附着在红细胞表面的机会性细菌，可导致包括啮齿动物在内的多种哺乳动物发生传染性贫血。目前，针对巴西本土的阿扎拉兔豚鼠（Dasyprocta azarae）的研究还比较缺乏。因此，本研究旨在评估巴西南部库里提巴市一个城市环境保护区内自由放养的阿扎拉兔豚鼠是否感染血源支原体。通过定量 PCR（循环阈值≤34.4），共有 11/35（31.43%）的阿扎拉兔豚鼠呈血源支原体阳性。16S 核糖体 RNA 基因测序表明，感染的是与鼠类血支原体亚种 ratti 密切相关的支原体属 haemomuris，提示血源支原体可能通过城市大鼠传播给阿扎拉兔豚鼠。由于 M. haemomuris 的主要传播途径是直接的啮齿动物-啮齿动物感染，因此我们检测到的相对较低的阳性率可能是由于阿扎拉兔豚鼠的社会单位较小，通常由 2 到 4 只个体组成，因此种内接触较少，而与其他啮齿动物物种的接触则较少，导致种间接触较少。应进一步开展研究，以确定我们发现的血源支原体感染是否会导致阿扎拉兔豚鼠出现临床发病和危及生命的贫血。
