About this Research Topic

Background

Rodents are the most abundant living mammals comprising approximately 42% of global mammalian biodiversity. Rodents are very diverse in their ecology and lifestyles and can be found in almost every terrestrial habitat, including human-made environments. They can transmit a wide range of microbial pathogens including viruses, bacteria and parasites and act as definitive and intermediate hosts of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. Rodents are known to carry more than 85 zoonotic pathogens and along with their high diversity, they represent a significant threat to human health

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lot of attention and need to understand emerging zoonotic diseases and on how to be prepared for the next pandemic. Rapid development of industry, agriculture, and urbanization, as well as climate change alter extensively and often permanently the structure and function of the landscape, as well as the frequency and intensity of the interactions between people, animals, and the environment. These changes have the potential to exacerbate many existing health challenges across the globe particularly in developing countries where the risk of spillover is high through: 1) changing the abundance and distribution of available hosts and/or vectors, impacting pathogen persistence; 2) changing the behavior, movement patterns, and immune status of hosts, altering disease susceptibility and transmission; 3) changing the structure and utility of the environment that increase interaction with humans and transmission (e.g., increased flooding, poor sanitation, high-density housing); and 4) changing the distribution or transmission dynamics of a pathogen directly.

Several studies have shown that rodent infestations have been associated with an increased risk of occurrence of a wide range of zoonotic and food-borne illnesses, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, Lassa hemorrhagic fever, Salmonellosis, Lyme disease, Q fever, leishmaniasis and vector-borne bacterial infections, such as scrub typhus, murine typhus, and plague. However, little is known about the drivers of rodent-borne zoonotic disease transmission. Additionally, the lack of vaccines, antivirals, anti-parasitic drugs, and the ever-increasing rate of antimicrobial resistance in particular multidrug resistance (MDR) are of great public health concern. MDR bacteria (E. coli, Campylobacter or Listeria) have been found at high prevalence in the intestinal tract of wild rodents living in close proximity to livestock and humans. Importantly, there is a real need to continue the surveillance of those pathogens in rodents at different animal-human interfaces in this ever-changing environment to: 1) monitor the evolution of known pathogens, and detect and characterize potential novel pathogens; 2) investigate the risk of new emerging rodent pathogens using advanced in vitro and in vivo models; 3) study the risk factors of exposure associated with these diseases; including human, environmental and climate factors.

The aim of the current Research Topic is to publish manuscripts (Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Brief Research Report) focusing on:
1. Viral and bacterial infection in rodents and human using metagenomics and multiplex tools;
2. New advancement in in vitro and in vivo models to study risk of spillover of new emerging rodent pathogens in domestic animals and humans;
3. Study of pathogenesis both in vitro and in vivo;
4. Challenges in treatment and vaccine prevention of rodent-borne diseases.
Manuscripts solely focusing on surveillance data will not be considered for publication.

Keywords: rodent-borne pathogens, zoonotic risk, changing landscape, Risk factors

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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