Bacteria Diversity in Spleens of Wild Rodents and Shrews from Marigat County, Kenya.

Wild rodents and shrews harbor disease causing microbes that include a vast variety of bacteria, protozoa, viruses and helminths that can be transmitted directly or indirectly to humans. For instance, rats and mice spread over 35 diseases including tantavirus pulmonary syndrome, plague, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, brucellosis, rat-bite fever, tularemia and Lassa fever. Such diseases are transmitted through direct contact to environments contaminated with rodent feces, urine or saliva, handling of rodents and rodent bites. Other diseases are transmitted through vector intermediates such as ticks, lice, fleas, and mites. The increasing incidence of emerging, re-emerging and novel pathogens has led to renewed interest in rodents and rodent-borne pathogens. This study seeks to characterize the bacterial diversity harbored by their spleens

野生啮齿类动物(rodent)与鼩鼱类动物携带有可致病微生物，涵盖细菌、原生动物(protozoa)、病毒及蠕虫(helminths)等多样类群，此类微生物可直接或间接传播至人类。例如，大鼠与小鼠可传播超过35种疾病，包括汉坦病毒肺综合征（原文疑似为Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome的笔误）、鼠疫(plague)、钩端螺旋体病(leptospirosis)、沙门氏菌病(salmonellosis)、布鲁氏菌病(brucellosis)、鼠咬热(rat-bite fever)、土拉菌病(tularemia)及拉沙热(Lassa fever)。此类疾病可通过直接接触啮齿类动物粪便、尿液或唾液污染的环境、接触啮齿类动物以及被啮齿类动物咬伤等途径传播；另有部分疾病可通过蜱虫(ticks)、虱子(lice)、跳蚤(fleas)、螨类(mites)等媒介生物进行传播。新发、再现及新型病原体的发病率持续攀升，促使学界重新关注啮齿类动物及其携带的啮齿类源性病原体。本研究旨在表征这些动物脾脏中携带的细菌多样性。