19
Neotrop. Helminthol., 8(1), 2014
2014 Asociación Peruana de Helmintología e Invertebrados Afines (APHIA)
ISSN: 2218-6425 impreso / ISSN: 1995-1043 on line
ORIGINAL ARTICLE / ARTÍCULO ORIGINAL
THE HELMINTH PARASITES OF RATTUS RATTUS (LINNAEUS, 1758) OF URBAN,
INTERMEDIATE AND RURAL ENVIRONMENTS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
LOS HELMINTOS PARÁSITOS DE RATTUS RATTUS (LINNAEUS, 1758) DE LOS ENTORNOS
URBANOS, INTERMEDIOS Y RURALES EN EL SUR DE BRASIL
1 1* 2 1
Eduardo Oliveira de Araujo , Mariana de Moura Mendes , Patrícia Quintana Langone & Gertrud Müller
Abstract
Rattus rattus has synanthropic habits which make it an important rodent for the dissemination of
zoonotic parasites. Thirty individuals were captured and necropsied with the aim of knowing theie
helminth fauna. Three species of parasites were found, two nematodes (Aspiculuris tetraptera and
Syphacia obvelata) and one cestode (Hymenolepis diminuta). The rural area showed most
diversity of helminthes.
Keywords: Aspiculuris tetraptera - Syphacia obvelata - Hymenolepis diminuta - house rodents.
Resumen
Palabras clave: Aspiculuris tetraptera - Syphacia obvelata - Hymenolepis diminuta – roedores domésticos.
Rattus rattus tiene hábitos sinantrópicos que lo convierten en el roedor importante para la difusión
de parasitos zoonóticos. Treinta individuos fueron capturados y someterse a necropsia con el
objetivo de conocer la fauna de helmintos de R. rattus. Se encontraron tres espécies, dos
nematodos (Aspiculuris tetraptera y Syphacia obvelata) y uno cestodo (Hymenolepis diminuta).
El área rural mostró mayor diversidad de helmintos.
Suggested citation: Araujo, EO, Mendes, MM, Langone, PQ & Müller, G. 2014. The helminth parasites of Rattus rattus
(Linnaeus, 1758) of urban, intermediate and rural environments in southern Brazil. Neotropical Helminthology, vol. 8, n°1, jan-
jun, pp. 19 - 22.
¹Laboratório de Parasitologia de Animais Silvestres, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas
(DEMP-IB-UFPel), Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brasil. ²Laboratório de Citogenética e Evolução, Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências,
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Algre, Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brasil. *Financial support: CAPES
*Corresponding author at: Laboratório de Parasitologia de Animais Silvestres, Departamento de Microbiologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas
(UFPel), Pelotas, RS, Brasil. Caixa Postal 354, CEP 96010-900 E-mail address: marianammendes@yahoo.com.br
infected by a number of parasites. Moreover it
may act as a zoonotic vector representing a
serious risk to human health (Webster &
Macdonald, 1995). The helminths
Angiostrongylus spp. (Loría-Cortés & Lobo-
Sanahuja, 1980), Capillaria hepatica (Bancroft,
1893) (Sawamura et al., 1999), Capillaria sp.
(Ewing & Tilden 1956), Syphacia spp. (Stone et
al., 1966) and Trichuris spp. (Gonçalvez et al.,
2003) (Nematoda); Hymenolepis diminuta
(Rudolphi, 1819) (Marangi et al., 2003),
Hymenolepis nana (Siebold, 1852) (Mirdha &
Samantray, 2002) Hymenolepis spp. (Rokni,
,
Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Rodentia) is an
omnivorous species. It has terrestrial habit, great
skill for climbing, lives in dry places, housing,
barns, and between floors. It is usually found
near human housing, and has been recorded in
all states of Brazil (Bonvicino et al., 2008).
Several studies were performed on helminth
parasites of R. rattus, throughout its geographic
distribution, showing that the species may be
INTRODUCTION
Araujo et al.
Helminth parasites of Rattus rattus
20
tetraptera (Nitzsch, 1821) was represented by
only one specimen with P = 3.33% and A = 0.03.
The rats from rural area had two species of
parasites (A. tetraptera and H. diminuta), which
were unique to that place. Intermediate and
urban areas shared S. obvelata, the only one for
those places.
The number of species found and the prevalence
of parasitism were lower than reported in
literature for other regions of the world (Seng et
al., 1979; Hasegawa & Masako, 1999; Ajayi et
al., 2007). This may be due to the low sample
size of R. rattus captured in this study.
Only one study was performed using the same
sample size, also with low diversity of
helminths, recording the cestode H. diminuta
and three nematodes Protospirura
chanchanensis (Ibañez, 1966), S. obvelata, and
Heterakis spumosa (Schneider, 1866)
(Iannacone & Alvariño, 2002).
Of the three areas assessed, the intermediate
environment had the highest prevalence of
helminths. However, it is necessary to increase
the number of samples in rural and urban places
to see if this pattern is confirmed. Species
diversity was higher in the rural area, even with
low number of organisms which may be an
indication that this environment actually has a
higher number of parasite species.
The three species of helminths found, S.
obvelata, A. tetraptera, and H. diminuta, have
already been recorded infecting R. rattus in
different parts of the world. S. obvelata and H.
diminuta are zoonotic species.
Aspiculuris tetraptera had lower prevalence and
intensity in R. rattus, nevertheless, it is likely
that this helminth parasitism is not accidental,
since it has already been mentioned associated
with this species (Milazzo et al., 2003) and with
other murine rodents (Bazzano et al., 2002;
Kataranovski et al., 2008).
2008) and Moniliformis moniliformis (Bremser,
1811) (Ikeh et al., 1992) (Cestoda) are
mentioned in literature.
Urban expansion into rural environments
possible the proximity of these animals to
humans, so this work aims to meet the helminths
harbored by this host in urban, intermediate and
rural environments in southern Brazil.
The study was performed in southern Rio
Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Thirty R. rattus
were captured, 20 from urban environment in the
municipality of Pelotas (S: 31º 46' 34” and W:
52º 21' 34”), three from intermediate
environment, and seven from rural environment
in the municipality of Capão do Leão (S: 31º 46'
3” and W: 52º 26' 55”). The capture was made
with Tomahawk cage traps, using a mixture of
peanut butter, banana, sardine, and wheat flour
as bait. After capturing, the animals were
sedated and euthanized according to CFMV
(2002) and then necropsied. The nematodes
were clarified in lactophenol, and cestodes were
stained with hematoxilin for identification,
helminths were deposited in the collection of
Laboratório de Parasitologia de Animais
Silvestres da Universidade Federal de Pelotas.
Parameters of prevalence (P), abundance (A),
and mean intensity (MI) of parasitism were
evaluated according to Bush et al. (1997).
Three species of helminth were found, two
belonging to Phylum Nematoda and one to Class
Cestoda. The overall prevalence of parasitism
was 33.3% (n=10). The highest prevalence was
observed in the intermediate area (100%),
followed by rural area (42.85%) and urban area
(20%).
Syphacia obvelata (Rudolphi, 1802) was the
most prevalent parasite (23.32%), with highest
MI (= 30) and A (= 7), followed by H. diminuta
with P = 10%, MI = 2 and A = 0.2. Aspiculuris
MATERIAL AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
21
Neotrop. Helminthol., 8(1), 2014
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Syphacia obvelata, seems to be more associated
with Mus musculus (Linnaeus, 1758), but it has
already been observed infecting R. rattus
(Bressan, et al., 1997). S. muris (Yamaguti,
1935) is the species of this genus most
commonly found in R. rattus (Bazzano et al.,
2002; Milazzo et al., 2003). S. obvelata has
already been mentioned infecting humans. This
nematode of direct life cycle deposits its eggs in
the anal region of the host, usually a rodent.
Humans become infected by accidentally
swallowing the eggs, which may be carried by
arthropods or dust particles (Stone & Manwell,
1966).
Hymenolepis diminuta was the second most
prevalent helminth. This cestode was mentioned
as predominant parasite of R. rattus (Seng et al.,
1979), and is often associated with this rodent
(Ajayi et al., 2007). However, other species of
this genus have been found parasitizing R.
rattus, as H. fraterna (Mas-Coma et al., 2000)
and H. nana (Ajayi et al., 2007). Other rodents of
the family Muridae have been reported as hosts
for H. diminuta, as R. norvegicus (Berkenhout,
1769) (Abu-Madi et al., 2001) and M. musculus
(Milazzo et al., 2003), showing that this cestode
has low host specificity. H. diminuta is
cosmopolitan whose preferred definitive hosts
are rodents. However, infection may occur in
humans through accidental ingestion of
arthropods containing the cysticercoids larvae,
usually affecting children (Marangi et al., 2003).
Aspiculuris tetraptera, S. obvelata, and H.
diminuta are record for the first time in Rio
Grande do Sul State infecting non-captive
populations of R. rattus, and the most prevalent
helminth is S. obvelata. The report of S. obvelata
and H. diminuta composing the helminth fauna
of R. rattus, highlights the importance of these
parasites in public health due to proximity
between the hosts and humans, since these
rodents are disseminators of these parasites.
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Received November 12, 2013.
Accepted December 23, 2013.
