Tatard C. auteur aut IRD Garba M. auteur aut IRD Gauthier Philippe auteur aut IRD Hima K. auteur aut IRD Artige E. auteur aut IRD Dossou Dkhj auteur aut IRD Gagare S. auteur aut IRD Genson G. auteur aut IRD Truc Philippe auteur aut IRD Dobigny Gauthier auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Although they are known to sometimes infect humans, atypical trypanosomes are very poorly documented, especially in Africa where one lethal case has yet been described. Here we conducted a survey of rodent-borne Trypanosoma in 19 towns and villages of Niger and Nigeria, with a special emphasis on Niamey, the capital city of Niger. The 1298 rodents that were captured yielded 189 qPCR-positive animals from 14 localities, thus corresponding to a 14.6% overall prevalence. Rats, especially black rats, displayed particularly elevated prevalence (27.4%), with some well sampled sites showing 40-50% and up to 68.8% of Trypanosoma-carrying individuals. Rattus were also characterized by significantly lower Ct values than in the other non-Rattus species. DNA sequences could be obtained for 43 rodent-borne Trypanosoma and corresponded to 41 T. lewisi (all from Rattus) and 2 T. microti (from Cricetomys gambianus). These results, together with data compiled from the available literature, suggest that Rattus may play a particular role for the maintaining and circulation of Trypanosoma, especially T. lewisi, in Africa. Taken into account its strong abilities to invade coastal and inland regions of the continent, we believe that this genus deserves a particular attention in regards to potentially under-looked but emerging atypical trypanosome-related diseases. specialized Zoonotic agents Trypanosoma lewisi Biological invasion Commensal rodents Africa NIGER NIGERIA NIAMEY 052 080 171 151-158 2017 0001-706X https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010070280 10.1016/j.actatropica.2017.03.027 0001-706X [F B010070280] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010070280 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2017/08/010070280.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2017-09-05 2023-07-11 fdi:010070280 fre