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