Original Scientific Article
Anticoagulant resistance in Synanthropic rodents in the Stara Zagora region, Bulgaria
Georgi G. Zhelev
*
,
Kojcho P. Koev
,
Vladimir D. Dimitrov
,
Vladimir S. Petrov
Received: 02 March 2018
Received in revised form: 26 November 2018
Accepted: 29 November 2018
Available Online First: 24 January 2019
Published on: 15 March 2019
Correspondence: Georgi G. Zhelev, zhelev_vet@abv.bg
Abstract
The anticoagulant rodenticides are the most commonly used toxicants to control rodents nowadays. Therefore, developing resistance to them is an issue of great importance for pest control. The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of synanthropic rodents in the Stara Zagora region, Bulgaria to some of the most significant first (warfarin and coumatetralyl) and second (bromadiolone and brodifacoum) generation anticoagulants. Resistance tests were carried out by a standard protocol using lethal feeding period tests and blood clotting response tests according to the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (Paris, France) standard. Studies were performed on 278 wild synanthropic rodents – 67 house mice (Mus musculus), 153 roof rats (Rattus rattus) and 58 brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). The rodents belonged to 11 populations inhabiting 9 animal farms in the region of Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria. High-level resistance to warfarinwas established in 100% of surveyed house mice and 92.1% of roof rats. Resistance to coumatetralyl was registered in 62.5% of the tested roof rats. Low-level resistance to bromadiolone was found in 38.5% of the surveyed roof rats and 23.1% of house mice. There was no resistance registered in brown rats. The sensitivity of all three rodent species to the strategic anticoagulant brodifacoum was high, and there were no signs of resistance. The results proved the resistance among synanthropic rodents and led to the conclusion that the resistance in house mice and roof rats to warfarin and coumatetralyl tends to be the main issue in pest control.
Keywords: resistance, anticoagulant rodenticides, synantropic rodents
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Copyright
© 2019 Zhelev G.G. This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Prof. Slaveya Kesqkova from National Diagnostic Science-and-Research Veterinary Medical Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria for all advices and support.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declared that they have no potential conflict of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Citation Information
Macedonian Veterinary Review. Volume 42, Issue 1, Pages 61-70, p-ISSN 1409-7621, e-ISSN 1857-7415, DOI: 10.2478/macvetrev-2019-0010, 2019
10.2478/macvetrev-2019-0010
