title: Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth infections in rodents of Tarai region of Uttarakhand.
abstract: The present work was aimed to investigate helminth biodiversity among rodents in order to evaluate the threat for helminth transmission to humans since they act as a potential source of parasitic zoonoses. In this study, faeces of 43 black rats (Rattus rattus) and 35 house mice (Mus musculus) were collected from various habitats viz. domestic places and agricultural fields of different parts of tarai region of Uttarakhand. These faecal samples were examined for the presence of parasitic eggs, adult and segments of the worms. The study revealed that the rodents were infected with 5 genera of helminth parasites, i.e. Hymenolepis nana, Hymenolepis diminuta, Syphacia muris, Capillaria hepatica, Trichuris muris and other strongyle eggs (2 species of cestodes and 4 species of nematodes). Adult Syphacia muris and segments of Hymenolepis nana were also recovered from faecal droppings. Of the 43 samples of black rat, all (100 %) and of the 35 samples of mice 9 (25.71 %) were found positive for one or more than one species of parasitic infections. Greater infection of H. diminuta 19 (44.18 %) followed by H. nana 17 (39.53 %) was seen in rat whereas mice were mostly infected with H. nana. The diversity and prevalence of various parasites reported here within domestic habitats may suggest that these can pose a high risk of helminth transmission to human population and are thus of considerable public health importance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263 145 Uttarakhand India.
authors.forename: Deepesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (MBGE), College of Basic Science and Humanities, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263 145 Uttarakhand India.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263 145 Uttarakhand India.
authors.forename: Stuti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vatsya
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University (CAU), Selesih, 496 014 Aizawl, Mizoram India.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Yadav
keywords: Gastrointestinal helminths; Parasitic zoonoses; Rodents