Rodent trapping studies as an overlooked information source for understanding endemic and novel zoonotic spillover.

ABSTRACT: Rodents, a diverse, globally distributed and ecologically important order of mammals are nevertheless important reservoirs of known and novel zoonotic pathogens. Ongoing anthropogenic land use change is altering these species' abundance and distribution, which among zoonotic host species may increase the risk of zoonoses spillover events. A better understanding of the current distribution of rodent species is required to guide attempts to mitigate against potentially increased zoonotic disease hazard and risk. However, available species distribution and host-pathogen association datasets (e.g. IUCN, GBIF, CLOVER) are often taxonomically and spatially biased. Here, we synthesise data from West Africa from 127 rodent trapping studies, published between 1964-2022, as an additional source of i

SUBMITTER: Simons D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9894545 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature