Prevalence of helminths infection in wild rodents of Northwestern Iran

Rodents act as reservoirs, intermediate or definitive hosts for various zoonotic helminths. Parasitic diseases are among the critical factors affecting the survival and composition of wild rodent populations and wild rodents share their habitat with domestic free-grazing animals- mainly sheep, stray dogs, and cats, which allows the transmission of helminth infections to these animals: i.e., Toxocara and Trichinella. This study investigated the helminth parasite fauna of wild rodents in East Azerbaijan Province, North-Western Iran, and discussed the possibility of parasite transmission among wild rodents. A total of 204 rodents of seventeen different species have been collected in northwest Iran. Information about the genus, developmental stage and rodent species was recorded for each animal. The gastrointestinal tract, liver and diaphragm were examined for the presence of helminths. The recovered specimens were identified based on reference should be included.. The prevalence rate of helminths infection among the captured rodents was 67.16%. Meriones persicus showed the highest infection and diversity rates. This species harbored the zoonotic helminths Capillaria hepatica and species belonging to genera Toxocara, Syphacia, and Hymenolepis. M. persicus specimens from the mountainous area showed the highest infection rate. This study aimed at evaluating the potential role of wild rodent species as reservoirs of helminth infection in East Azerbaijan province, Iran. M. persicus is the more common species in our study and represents a higher proportion of the infected rodents in terms of helminths diversity and frequency. Harboring zoonotic helminths, M. persicus represents a health risk. - Further studies are recommended to evaluate the prevalence of these parasites in the human community and to inform the people concerned about the risk of disease transmission to humans through rodents.