OCCURRENCE OF SOME ZOONOTIC MICROORGANISMS IN FAECAL MATTE OF HOUSE RAT (RATTUS RATTUS) AND HOUSE MOUSE (MUS MUSCULUS) TRAPPED FROM VARIOUS STRUCTURES

Commensal as well as wild rats and mice may present a potential risk to public health. They may harbour microorganisms that can be transmitted either through contact with infected rodent urine or faeces, or through ectoparasites. Prevalence of zoonotic microorganism in house rat (Rattus rattus) and house mouse (Mus musculus) in different types of structures such as grocery shops, sweet shops, rice godowns, wheat godowns and poultry feed stores was studied in Sargodha and Faisalabad districts of Pakistan. In R. rattus, E. coli showed the highest prevalenc in faecal material from rice godowns (4.72%), while the lowest prevalence (3.46%) was in poultry feed stores (P 0.05). S. typhi had the higest prevalence (4.44%) in samples from grocery shops and lowest (3.56%) in those from sweet shops (P 0.05). Similarly, the highest prevalence of H. nana (3.89%) was recorded in faeces from grocery shops and lowest in those from poultry feed stores (P 0.05). In case of Mus musculus, rats from sweet shops showed the highest prevalence of E. coli (4.83%), while the lowest was in rats from wheat godowns (4.05%; P 0.05). S. typhi had the highest prevalence (4.56%) in grocery shops and lowest (3.28%) in sweet shops (P 0.05). For H. nana, the highest prevalence (3.61%) was noted in samples from rice godowns and lowest (3.00%) in sweet shops (P 0.05). Fecal samples of R. rattus and Mus musculus of all the structures of Sargodha district were significantly more infected with E. coli, S. typhi and H. nana compared with the samples collected from the structures of district Faisalabad (P 0.05). These results indicated that both house rat and house mouse may act as reservoir for E. coli, S. typhi and H. nana.