Congratulations to One Health EJP PhD student Marieke de Cock for her 2nd publication!
Marieke works at RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment on PhD project DESIRE.
Her research assesses the hazard and risk of rat-borne zoonoses for public health in the Netherlands, since rats can host many infectious disease agents that are transmissible to humans.
Her published article demonstrated that rat-borne zoonotic disease hazard increased in greener urban areas. This study screened wild brown rats and black rats from three urban areas in the Netherlands for 18 zoonotic pathogens: bacteria, viruses and parasites. Surveillance for rat-borne infections is essential since human and rat populations live closely together in urban environments.
Key findings included:
- 13 zoonotic pathogens were detected.
- Bartonella spp. was the most prevalent.
- The prevalence of Bartonella spp. and Borrelia spp. increased with greenness.
- The prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)/AmpC-producing Escherichia coli and rat hepatitis E virus decreased with greenness.
- Rat-borne zoonotic infections should be considered when designing urban green spaces.
Thanks to all co-authors of this publication: de Cock, M. P., de Vries, A., Fonville, M., Esser, H. J., Mehl, C., Ulrich, R. G., Joeres, M., Hoffmann, D., Eisenberg, T., Schmidt, K., Hulst, M., van der Poel, W. H. M., Sprong, H., & Maas, M. (2023). Increased rat-borne zoonotic disease hazard in greener urban areas. The Science of the Total Environment. 896, 165069. Advance online publication.
Read this research article here.
To learn more about DESIRE project, go to this webpage.
