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First Coronavirus Active Survey in Rodents From the Canary Islands.

ABSTRACT: Since the beginning of the 21st century five new coronaviruses inducing respiratory diseases in humans have been reported. These emergences has promoted research on coronaviruses in wildlife. We started the first eco-epidemiological study to screen the presence of coronaviruses circulating in mice and rats of four Canary Islands. Between 2015 and 2019, we obtained fecal samples of three rodent species (150 Mus musculus, 109 Rattus rattus and 1 Rattus norvegicus) captured in urban and rural areas. Fecal samples were analyzed by nRT-PCR and the resulting sequences were compared to known diversity using Bayesian phylogenetic methods. We only found coronavirus RNA in house mice from El Hierro (10.53%), Tenerife (7.02%) and Lanzarote (5.26%) islands. All coronaviruses detected belong to the species Murine coronavirus belonging to the genus Betacoronavirus and subgenus Embecovirus, being all positive house mice captured in anthropogenic environment. The phylogenetic analysis shows that murine coronaviruses from the Canary Islands are related to European murine coronaviruses. Albeit data are still scarce in the region, the most probable origin of M. coronavirus present in the Canary Islands is continental Europe. According to temporal Bayesian phylogenetics, the differentiation between Canary and continental viruses seems to be quite recent. Moreover, murine coronaviruses from El Hierro, Tenerife and Lanzarote islands tend to segregate in different clades. This enlightens the potential role of rodents or other possibly invasive species in disseminating infectious diseases to remote places through exchanges with the continent. It is important to consider these aspects in the sanitary control of islands, for health and biodiversity preservation concerns.

SUBMITTER: Monastiri A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8416442 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundCryptosporidium spp. are worldwide protozoan parasites which include species that can lead to cryptosporidiosis in humans. Different animal species can serve as reservoirs and sources of dissemination of the disease, such as rodent species due their potential in transmitting zoonotic pathogens to humans and other animals. In the Canary Islands (Spain), Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis have been identified in patients with diarrhea. However, the occurrence of Cryptosporidium spp. in possible reservoirs in this archipelago remains unclear. Considering the zoonotic potential of these protozoans, the aim of the present study was to determine the presence of Cryptosporidium spp. in peridomestic wild rodents and the possible role of these mammals as a source of transmission of these protozoans in Canary Islands.MethodsA total of 179 rodents belonging to Rattus rattus and Mus musculus domesticus from four Canary Islands, La Palma, El Hierro, Tenerife and Lanzarote, were analyzed. Feces were screened for Cryptosporidium spp. by nested PCR of the 18S ribosomal RNA fragment and the sequences used for phylogenetic analyses.ResultsCryptosporidium spp. were found widely distributed with an overall prevalence of 12.30% in rodents (13.86% for R. rattus and 10.25% for M. m. domesticus). The overall prevalence by island was 19.60% for Tenerife, 7.14% for La Palma, 5.71% for El Hierro and 0% for Lanzarote. Cryptosporidium tyzzeri, Cryptosporidium meleagridis, Cryptosporidium muris and Cryptosporidium sp. rat genotype I and II/III were successfully identified, in addition to two unidentified Cryptosporidium genotypes.ConclusionsThis study contributes to the knowledge of the biodiversity and distribution of Cryptosporidium spp. in wild rodents from the Canary Islands, highlighting the presence of three zoonotic species, C. tyzzeri, C. meleagridis and C. muris, being the first detection of these three species in wild rodents in the Canary Islands and the first report of C. meleagridis in R. rattus. Given the results obtained in our study, future studies in non-sampled areas are required to better understand the epidemiology of these protozoans in wild rodents in the archipelago.

Project description:BackgroundIn the Canary Islands there are no previous data about tapeworms (Cestoda) of rodents. In order to identify the hymenolepidid species present in these hosts, a survey of 1,017 murine (349 Rattus rattus, 13 Rattus norvegicus and 655 Mus musculus domesticus) was carried out in the whole Archipelago. Molecular studies based on nuclear ITS1 and mitochondrial COI loci were performed to confirm the identifications and to analyse the levels of genetic variation and differentiation.ResultsThree species of hymenolepidids were identified: Hymenolepis diminuta, Rodentolepis microstoma and Rodentolepis fraterna. Hymenolepis diminuta (in rats) and R. microstoma (in mice) showed a widespread distribution in the Archipelago, and R. fraterna was the least spread species, appearing only on five of the islands. The hymenolepidids found on Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa were restricted to one area. The COI network of H. diminuta showed that the haplotypes from Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are the most distant with respect to the other islands, but clearly related among them.ConclusionsFounder effects and biotic and abiotic factors could have played important role in the presence/absence of the hymenolepidid species in determined locations. The haplotypes from the eastern islands (Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) seem to have shared an ancestral haplotype very distant from the most frequent one that was found in the rest of the islands. Two colonization events or a single event with subsequent isolation and reduced gene flow between western-central and eastern islands, have taken place in the Archipelago. The three tapeworms detected are zoonotic species, and their presence among rodents from this Archipelago suggests a potential health risk to human via environmental contamination in high risk areas. However, the relatively low prevalence of infestations detected and the focal distribution of some of these species on certain islands reduce the general transmission risk to human.

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First Coronavirus Active Survey in Rodents From the Canary Islands.

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