Macroparasites of Small Terrestrial Mammals in Grassland Habitat of the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site and the University of Ghana Legon Main Campus

Abstract

Zoonosis pose a high risk to public health. It currently accounts for about 61% of global infectious diseases in the world and about 71% of all zoonoses originates from wild animals. Small mammals have a wide geographic distribution and are known reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. Some small mammal species such as Mastomys natalensis are anthropophilic and hence come into contact with humans. This behavior raises genuine concern for potential spillover of zoonotic pathogens from small mammals to humans, domestic animals and livestock. Yet, there is scant information on the ecto- and edo-parasite of small mammals and their zoonotic potential in tropical Savanna ecosystems. To bridge this knowledge gap, I assessed the ectoparasites and gastrointestinal helminths of small mammals in the Savanna ecosystem of the Muni-Pomadze ramsar site, and grassland in the University of Ghana, Legon main campus. The small mammals were captured along line transects using Sherman Live-traps baited with a mixture of corn meal and peanut butter. Captured individuals were examined for mites, lice, ticks, fleas and gastrointestinal helminths. The parasitological matrices: prevalence (%), mean intensity and mean abundance were calculated. The differences of the parasitological matrices between female and male individual were examined using Chi-Square test at a 5% level of significance. A total of 108 small mammal individuals of two species were captured from the two study sites. Mastomys natalensis was the dominant species with 95.4% of the total captures (103 out of 108) and Lemniscomys striatus made up the rest. In Muni-Pomadze, one ectoparasite (Haemaphysalis leachi) and nine gastrointestinal helminths were identified with Ascaris Hymenolepis and being the most prevalent (17.6%) and least (2.9%) prevalent helminths. In the grassland in the University of Ghana, Legon main campus, three gastro-intestinal helminths were identified, with the most prevalent being Ascaris (32.4%) and Trichuris (9.5%) the least). There was no significant difference of helminth infection between sex of mammals in Muni-Pomadze except for Trichuris [χ2 =5.0135, df=1, p=0.0251] where infection was significantly higher in females; Dicrocoelium [χ2 =4.1628, df=1, p=0.0413]; and Hymenolepis [χ2 =4.2236, df=1, p=0.0399] where infection was significantly higher in males. In the grassland in the University of Ghana, Strongyloides was significantly higher in females [χ2 =16.1023, df=1, p<0.0001]. In Muni-Pomadze, the mean intensity was higher in females: Ascaris (14.33), Trichuris (8.33), while in University of Ghana main campus, it was higher in males: Ascaris (3.46), Strongyloides (7.22) and Trichuris (16.5). In the University of Ghana main campus, the mean abundance was higher in females: Ascaris (17.91), Strongyloides (16.41), Trichuris (11.56). Overall, my study has added to the literature on macroparasites in small mammals. I recommend further studies including molecular work to better understand the public health risk posed by these small mammals’ intestinal helminths. Key words: helminth, parasite, Muni-Pomadze, parasite, Mastomys natalensis, Lemniscomys striatus