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The reduction in biodiversity from land use change due to urbanization and agricultural intensification appears to be linked to major epidemiological changes in many human diseases. Increasing disease risks and the emergence of novel pathogens result from increased contact among wildlife, domesticated animals, and humans. We investigated the relationship between human alteration of the environment and the occurrence of generalist and synanthropic rodent species in relation to the diversity and prevalence of rodent‐borne pathogens in Southeast Asia, a hotspot of threatened and endangered species, and a foci of emerging infectious diseases. We used data from an extensive pathogen survey of rodents from seven sites in mainland Southeast Asia in conjunction with past and present land cover analyses. At low spatial resolutions, we found that rodent‐borne pathogen richness is negatively associated with increasing urbanization, characterized by increased habitat fragmentation, agriculture cover and deforestation. However, at a finer spatial resolution, we found that some major pathogens are favored by environmental characteristics associated with human alteration including irrigation, habitat fragmentation, and increased agricultural land cover. In addition, synanthropic rodents, many of which are important pathogen reservoirs, were associated with fragmented and human‐dominated landscapes, which may ultimately enhance the opportunities for zoonotic transmission and human infection by some pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports of atypical human cases of Trypanosoma lewisi or T. lewisi-like and Trypanosoma evansi infections have increased in South-East Asia, urging to investigate the possible links between humans, animal reservoirs and habitats. We tested how habitat structure affects the infection by Trypanosoma species of common murine rodents, inhabiting human-dominated landscapes in South East Asia. For this, we used geo-referenced data of rodents investigated for Trypanosoma infection and land cover maps produced for seven study sites in Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR. High prevalence of infection by T. lewisi was observed in rodents living near human settlement and in areas with high cover of built-up habitat, while the infection of rodents by T. evansi was explained by increased landscape patchiness and high cover of rain-fed agriculture lands. These results suggest a likely role of wild rodents as reservoir and possible source of atypical human infection by animal trypanosomes., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)