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Brazilian Spotted Fever: The Role of Capybaras

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Capybara

Abstract

Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are hosts for the tick species Amblyomma dubitatumand Amblyomma cajennense. The latter, popularly known in Brazil as “carrapato-estrela”, is the main vector of the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii, the etiological agent of Brazilian spotted fever, the most deadly rickettsiosis in the world. Current public opinion associates human cases of Brazilian spotted fever with capybaras and their ticks, and this has led to capybaras being blamed for the increasing occurrence of the disease over the last few decades in southeastern Brazil. In fact, the ecology of Brazilian spotted fever is more complex, involving many agents, including, but not restricted to, capybaras. This chapter discusses the role of capybaras in the occurrence of Brazilian spotted fever, especially in the state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, where this issue has been well studied. There may be a causal relationship between the rising capybara population and the re-emergence of the disease in the state of São Paulo, since both capybara populations and the number of Brazilian spotted fever cases have increased significantly in this state over the last three decades (Labruna 2009; Del Fiol et al. 2010). However, capybaras are not the sole vertebrate species associated with the reemergence of the disease. We present what is known of the current epidemiology of Brazilian spotted fever, in order to target control and prevention of the disease in areas where capybaras have been shown to play a primary role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, Cidade Universitária, 05508-270, São Paulo, Brazil

    Marcelo B. Labruna

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  1. Marcelo B. Labruna
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Correspondence to Marcelo B. Labruna .

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  1. Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnolog, Av. W5 Norte, Brasília, DF-70770, Brazil

    José Roberto Moreira

  2. , Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Pádua Dias 11, Piracicaba, 13418-900, São Paulo, Brazil

    Katia Maria P.M.B. Ferraz

  3. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Miranda-Apartado, Caracas, 8900, Venezuela

    Emilio A. Herrera

  4. , Zoology Dept., University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Oxford, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom

    David W. Macdonald

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Labruna, M.B. (2013). Brazilian Spotted Fever: The Role of Capybaras. In: Moreira, J., Ferraz, K., Herrera, E., Macdonald, D. (eds) Capybara. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4000-0_23

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