Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Helminths in Rodent Communities in Southern Guatemala.

Rodents are reservoirs and hosts of several pathogens around the world, including zoonotic parasite species. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of zoonotic gastrointestinal helminths in rodents captured inside households in a rural community from southern Guatemala. Sixty-nine rodents were captured in 33% (49/148) the surveyed households, including Rattus rattus , Rattus norvegicus , Mus musculus and Sigmodon hispidus . Thirty-six percent (25/69) of these rodents (3 Rattus , and 22 Mus musculus ), from 45% (22/49) of the households, were parasitized with at least 1 gastrointestinal helminth species. Helminths from 6 species were identified: Hymenolepis diminuta , Moniliformis moniliformis , Heterakis spumosa , Nippostrongylus sp . , Strongyloides sp . , and Syphacia sp. Two zoonotic species were found in Rattus , H. diminuta in R. rattus (1/6), and M. moniliformis in R. norvegicus (1/1). Coinfection with other non-zoonotic helminth parasites, such as H. spumosa and Strongyloides sp. also was observed in the Rattus genus. Mus musculus, had only non-zoonotic helminths: H. spumosa , Nippostrongylus sp. and Syphacia sp., being the most common H. spumosa (96%) followed by Nippostrongylus sp. (48%), with higher presence in males than females, with similar proportion in adult and young individuals. This is the first report of zoonotic and non-zoonotic helminths parasites in rodents from Guatemala.