Rats as indicators of the presence and dispersal of pathogens in Cyprus: ectoparasites, parasitic helminths, enteric bacteria, and encephalomyocarditis virus.

Rodents play an active role in the transmission of a number of zoonoses by harboring and disseminating the pathogens involved, either through their biological materials or via their ectoparasites. Hence, the spatial and seasonal distribution of potential agents of zoonoses may be studied by examining their distribution in the rodent vectors and their ectoparasites. A surveillance was conducted in wild rodents in 51 different areas of Cyprus, an island ecosystem, to monitor the reemergence of Echinococcus granulosus and Encephalomyocarditis virus (pathogens that have been eradicated from Cyprus), to study the presence and dispersal of Salmonella spp.