Publications

experimental infection of voles with francisella tularensis indicates their amplification role in tularemia outbreaks.	tularemia outbreaks in humans have been linked to fluctuations in rodent population density, but the mode of bacterial maintenance in nature is unclear. here we report on an experiment to investigate the pathogenesis of francisella tularensis infection in wild rodents, and thereby assess their potential to spread the bacterium. we infected 20 field voles (microtus agrestis) and 12 bank voles (myodes glareolus) with a strain of f. tularensis ssp. holarctica isolated from a human patient. upon eut ...	2014	25271640
detection of francisella tularensis in voles in finland.	francisella tularensis is a highly virulent intracellular bacterium causing the zoonotic disease tularemia. it recurrently causes human and animal outbreaks in northern europe, including finland. although f. tularensis infects several mammal species, only rodents and lagomorphs seem to have importance in its ecology. peak densities of rodent populations may trigger tularemia outbreaks in humans; however, it is still unclear to which extent rodents or other small mammals maintain f. tularensis in ...	2014	24575824
molecular survey of zoonotic agents in rodents and other small mammals in croatia.	croatia is a focus for many rodent-borne zoonosis. here, we report a survey of 242 rodents and small mammals, including 43 myodes glareolus, 131 apodemus flavicollis, 53 apodemus agrarius, three apodemus sylvaticus, six sorex araneus, four microtus arvalis, one microtus agrestis, and one muscardinus avellanarius, collected at eight sites in croatia over an 8-year period. multiplex masstag polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was used for detection of borrelia, rickettsia, bartonella, babesia, ehrlich ...	2016	26711522
metagenomic evaluation of bacteria from voles.	voles (arvicolinae, rodentia) are known carriers of zoonotic bacteria such as bartonella spp. and francisella tularensis. however, apart from f. tularensis, the bacterial microbiome of voles has not previously been determined in finland and rarely elsewhere. therefore, we studied liver samples from 61 voles using 16s ribosomal rna gene pcr analysis, followed by sanger sequencing. twenty-three of these samples were also studied with tag-encoded pyrosequencing. the samples originated from 21 field ...	2017	27854567