Cat (Felis catus)-borne parasites of Rattus norvegicus in an urban district in Kuwait. | ||||
| Bulletin of Faculty of Science, Zagazig University | ||||
| Article 15, Volume 2024, Issue 4, January 2025, Page 157-165 PDF (2.05 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/bfszu.2024.270988.1366 | ||||
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| Author | ||||
Laila mohamad Tahrani 
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| Parasitology specialist, Parasitology Lab., Veterinary Laboratories, PAAFR, Kuwait. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| In Kuwait, the density of Rattus norvegicus (the Brown rat) is high in urban areas where they are neighborhood of stray cats. In these ecological environments, the interaction between predator and prey is expected, contributing to transmission dynamics of parasites between stray cats and brown rats and shaping the prevalence of their parasitic fauna. This study was conducted to investigate the rodent parasites, which are transmitted from cats in the densely human populated community, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Between January 2023 to May 2023, eighty brown rats were caught using live traps and examined for parasites. The overall parasitic infection transmitted from cats to rats was 36.3% (24/80). The most prevalent parasite was Cysticercus fasciolaris (25%) in the liver followed by Sarcocystis sp. (3.8%) in muscles. T. gondii antibodies were detected in the blood of only one rat. Fifty percent of rats had multiple infections with C. fasciolaris and the intensity of infection with this meta-cestode was 1.95 cysts/rat. The species of sarcocystis was probably S. cymruensis, which had a cat-rat life cycle. Sarcocystis is recorded for the first time in rodents in Kuwait. Transmission dynamics of parasites, including predation, between stray cats and brown rats in the urban ecosystem in the present research area, were discussed. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Rattus norvegicus; Parasites; Kuwait | ||||
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