Rats as a Source for Emerging Zoonoses: Understanding the Interactions Between Rats, Pathogens, and the Urban Environment

大鼠一直是并将继续是许多人畜共患病病原体的来源（即，可传播给人的病原体）是世界各地城市中人类发病率和死亡率居高不下的原因。其中一些病原体（包括鼠疫的病原体）在老鼠之间传播，并通过跳蚤从老鼠传播给人。虽然老鼠的疾病受到多种因素的影响，包括健康状况和慢性压力，但随后疾病向其他老鼠和人类的传播与老鼠如何在内部移动并与环境相互作用直接相关。* * 尽管有传闻证据表明，老鼠在加拿大城市中蓬勃发展，但在我国，关于老鼠，跳蚤和病原体的数据很少。温哥华的市中心东区（DTES），被称为加拿大最贫穷的邮政编码之一，是特别令人关注的，因为与贫困有关的因素是众所周知的，以促进鼠患，鼠与人接触，和疾病传播。此外，以大型国际港口为特色的城市（如温哥华、蒙特利尔和哈利法克斯）可能成为携带国外新型病原体的大鼠的入境点。* 为了开始解决大鼠及其病原体数据缺乏的问题，温哥华大鼠项目（VRP; www.example.com）成立于2010年，其总体目标是描述温哥华DTES中大鼠相关病原体的生态学和流行病学特征。对于VRP的第二阶段，我们将研究在第一阶段收集的大鼠及其跳蚤，以及通过在温哥华的国际港口和其他加拿大港口城市额外诱捕获得的大鼠。分析这些标本的目的是：1）确定大鼠的健康、运动和环境特征如何影响大鼠中的病原体分布; 2）确定大鼠及其病原体是否通过国际航运引入城市，并比较城市之间某些病原体的存在情况; 3）描述与跳蚤相关的细菌群落，以寻找已知和新的病原体。通过整合关于老鼠、跳蚤、它们的病原体和城市环境的信息，我们将探索老鼠是否可以作为新出现的传染性人畜共患病的来源。这项研究将使我们能够确定老鼠是否对居住在加拿大城市的人们构成潜在的健康风险。从这种方法中获得的知识对于制定明智的方法来评估，监测和减轻现在和未来的大鼠相关风险至关重要。

Rats have been, and continue to be, the source of numerous zoonotic pathogens (i.e., pathogens transmissible to people) responsible for significant human morbidity and mortality in cities around the world. A number of these pathogens (including the etiologic agent of the plague) are transmitted among rats and from rats to people by fleas. While disease in rats is influenced by a variety of factors including health status and chronic stress, the subsequent spread of disease to other rats and to people is directly related to how rats move within and interact with their environment. ******Despite anecdotal evidence that rats are thriving in Canadian cities, there is little data in our country on rats, their fleas, and their pathogens. Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), known as one of Canada's poorest postal codes, is of particular concern because factors associated with poverty are known to promote rat infestations, rat-human contact, and disease transmission. In addition, cities which feature large international ports (such as Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax) may serve as entry points for rats carrying novel pathogens from abroad. *******To begin to address this lack of data on rats and their pathogens, the Vancouver Rat Project (VRP; vancouverratproject.com) was founded in 2010 with the overarching objective to characterize the ecology and epidemiology of rat-associated pathogens in Vancouver's DTES. For Phase II of the VRP, we will study rats and their fleas collected during Phase I, as well as rats obtained through additional trapping at Vancouver's international port and other Canadian port cities. These specimens will be analyzed to: 1) determine how rat health, movement, and environmental characteristics influence pathogen distribution among rats; 2) resolve whether rats and their pathogens are introduced to a city through international shipping, and compare the presence of certain pathogens between cities; and 3) describe the bacterial communities associated with fleas to look for known and novel pathogens. By integrating information on rats, fleas, their pathogens, and the urban environment, we will explore whether rats could serve as a source for emerging infectious zoonoses. This research will allow us to determine whether rats pose a potential health risk to people living in cities across Canada. Knowledge gained from this approach will be essential for developing informed approaches to assess, monitor, and mitigate rat-associated risks now and in the future.**