Study on rodents infestation in Alexandria and prevalence of trichinella spiralis infection among them

ABSTRACT

Rodents were monthly collected from six districts of Alexandria during the whole year using live traps. The 1025 collected rodents were divided according to species, gender, age and weight. El-Amryia and El- Montaza were the most infested districts, while West, East, Middle and El-Gomrok districts were the lowest infested ones. Rattus norvegicus was the highest abundant species in the city [41.9%], followed by R. rattus [37.2%] then Mus musculus [20.9%]. There was no difference in abundance of rodents during summer compared with winter. Meanwhile, males represented 57.6% of the total collected rodents. Most of the collected rodents were <2 months old [63.8%] or light weighed [61.6%], however, number of caught rodents decreased as age or weight increased. Concerning El-Amryia and EL-Montaza districts where abattoirs are located, number of collected rodents from and around the abattoirs represented 70.4% of the total collected rodents were compared with 29.6% collected from and around the houses of the same districts. The total prevalence of T. Spiralis infection among collected rodents using digestion technique was 13.3%. El-Amryia, El- Montaza, West and El-Gomork Districts were the only infected districts