Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Rats in urban areas pose health risks as they can transmit various zoonotic pathogens. Monitoring rat populations in urban areas is therefore a key determinant in risk assessments for taking adequate control and preventive measures. However, large-scale and long-term monitoring of rat populations is labor-intensive and time consuming. The aim of this study was to develop a low-cost and low-time- consuming method to gain insight into the trends of rat populations in urban and non-urban environments in the Netherlands, and to identify potential drivers of these trends. From 2014 to 2018, local municipalities or their pest control organizations voluntarily submitted quarterly overviews of rat nuisance reports in urban areas. For non-urban areas, a nationwide record of reported bycatch species from the muskrat control was used to assess a potential trend. To identify potential drivers of observed trends, employees of nine municipalities were interviewed. Rat nuisance reports from 25 municipalities were analyzed. An increasing trend in rat nuisance reports was observed in 12, a decreasing trend in 3 and no trend in 10 municipalities. In non-urban areas, no trend in the bycatch of rats was detected. The increase in rat nuisance reports was associated with a large municipality resident size. No consistent drivers could be identified, but potential drivers were discussed in the interviews. Although it was not possible to quantify their influence on the rat population trends seen, they provide direction for future studies on drivers of rat populations.

Consumption of raw or inadequately cooked pork meat may result in trichinellosis, a human disease due to nematodes of the genus Trichinella. In many countries worldwide, individual control of pig carcasses at meat inspection is mandatory but incurs high costs in relation to absence of positive carcasses from pigs reared under controlled housing. EU regulation 2015/1375 implements an alternative risk-based approach, in view of absence of positive findings in pigs under controlled housing conditions. Moreover, Codex Alimentarius guidelines for the control of Trichinella spp. in meat of suidae have been published (CAC, 2015) and used in conjunction with the OIE terrestrial Animal health code, to provide guidance to governments and industry on risk based control measures to prevent human exposure to Trichinella spp. and to facilitate international pork trade. To further support such a risk-based approach, we model the risk of human trichinellosis due to consumption of meat from infected pigs, raised under non-controlled housing and wild boar, using Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) methods. Our model quantifies the distribution of Trichinella muscle larve (ML) in swine, test sensitivity at carcass control, partitioning of edible pork parts, Trichinella ML distribution in edible muscle types, heat inactivation by cooking and portion sizes. The resulting exposure estimate is combined with a dose response model for Trichinella species to estimate the incidence of human illness after consumption of infected meat. Paramater estimation is based on experimental and observational datasets. In Poland, which served as example, we estimated an average incidence of 0.90 (95%CI: 0.00-3.68) trichinellosis cases per million persons per year (Mpy) due to consumption of pork from pigs that were reared under non-controlled housing, and 1.97 (95%CI: 0.82-4.00) cases per Mpy due to consumption of wild boar. The total estimated incidence of human trichinellosis attributed to pigs from non-controlled housing and wild boar in ...