Helminth Parasites among Rodents in the Middle East Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Rodents can be a source of zoonotic helminths in the Middle East and also in other parts of the world. The current systematic review aimed to provide baseline data on rodent helminths to recognize the threats of helminth parasites on public health in the Middle East region. Following a systematic search on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, a total of 65 research studies on rodent cestodes, nematodes, and trematodes, which were conducted in the countries of the Middle East, were analyzed. The study identified 44 rodent species from which Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, and Rattus rattus were most common (63%) and recognized as the primary rodent hosts for helminth infestation in this region. Cestodes were the most frequently reported (n = 50), followed by nematodes (49), and trematodes (14). The random effect meta-analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of cestode (57.66%, 95%CI: 34.63-80.70, l²% = 85.6, p < 0.001) was higher in Saudi Arabia, followed by nematode (56.24%, 95%CI: 11.40-101.1, l²% = 96.7, p < 0.001) in Turkey, and trematode (15.83%, 95%CI: 6.25-25.1, l²% = 98.5, p < 0.001) in Egypt. According to the overall prevalence estimates of individual studies, nematodes were higher (32.71%, 95%CI: 24.89-40.54, l²% = 98.6, p < 0.001) followed by cestodes (24.88%, 95%CI: 19.99-29.77, l²% = 94.9, p < 0.001) and trematodes (10.17%, 95%CI: 6.7-13.65, l²% = 98.3, p < 0.001) in the rodents of the Middle East countries. The review detected 22 species of helminths, which have zoonotic importance. The most frequent helminths were Capillaria hepatica, Hymenolepis diminuta, Hymenolepis nana, and Cysticercus fasciolaris. There was no report of rodent-helminths from Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Furthermore, there is an information gap on rodent helminths at the humans-animal interface level in Middle East countries. Through the One Health approach and countrywide detailed studies on rodent-related helminths along with their impact on public health, the rodent control program should be conducted in this region.