Relationship between the sex and age of Mus musculus (Rodentia: Muridae) with ectoparasites prevalence in northeast of Iran

Rodent's significant role in transmission of serious zoonotic diseases is considered as an interesting subject in public attention. With respect to the importance of arthropod-infested rodents in zoonotic diseases transmission and extent distribution of Mus musculus, the present study aimed to analyze the interrelationship between host's sex and age of M. musculus with the ectoparasites prevalence in Mashhad and vicinity, northeast of Iran. Mites, ticks and lice were cleared in Nesbit and fleas were made transparent by 10% KOH and then individually mounted in Hoyer's medium. They were identified with the aid of valid identification keys. A total of 267 ectoparsites belonging to eight species were collected from 93 hosts (48.38% male vs. 51.62% female). Among parasite groups, mites, ticks, lice and fleas occurred in prevalence of 46.06%, 22.84%, 16.85% and 14.23%, respectively. Our results demonstrated significant higher ectopara-site burden on male hosts for Haemolaelaps sp., Nosopsyllus fasciatus, Ctenophtalmus sp. and Laelaps algericus. However, two tick species of Haemaphysalis punctata and Haemophysalis sp. showed a tendency of higher prevalence in females and no significant difference in the prevalence of lice species of Hoplopleura captiosa were observed between the host sexes. Similarly, no significant differences in ectoparasite infestations were observed between the age categories.