The spatio-temporal distribution of a rodent reservoir host of cutaneous leishmaniasis

1. The rodent Psammomys obesus is the main reservoir host for Leishmania major, the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Tunisia, much of North Africa and mid-western Asia. An understanding of the population dynamics of this rodent is essential to establish a preventive control strategy based on the early prediction of rodent outbreaks. 2. The study of P. obesus dynamics at a regional scale requires index-based sampling. Rodent numbers were monitored twice per year at the beginning and end of the breeding season, using transects around the Sidi Bouzid region in central Tunisia. 3. Two different types of dynamics occurred in two drainage basins. Rodents living in the northern basin were at low density and those living in the southern basin were at high density. 4. At the scale of a plot, occupied burrows were generally associated with the presence of three Chenopodiaceae: Arthrocnemum glaucum, Salsola tetrandra and Su ae da fruticosa, rarely in monospecific formations. However, in dry periods, occupied burrows drifted to A. glaucum formation linked with high moisture and salinity of the soil (chi(2) MacNemar = 6.26). 5. The risk of a P. obesus outbreak can be assessed by a simultaneous knowledge of flooding regimes in the drainage basins, the distribution of halophytic plant formations, and the progressive movements of the rodents as drying out proceeds. The transect indices of rodents are easily repeatable, economical and would be applicable in other developing countries where cutaneous leishmaniasis occurs. 6. This work illustrates that simple ecological methods can assist the assessment of spatial and temporal components of epidemiological risk such as the proximity between rodent colonies and human habitats at the time of outbreaks.