Natural reservoir

Natural reservoir or nidus, refers to the long-term hostof the pathogenof an infectious disease. It is often the case that hosts do not get the disease carried by the pathogen or it is asymptomaticand non-lethal. Once discovered, natural reservoirs elucidate the complete life cycle of infectious diseases, providing effective preventionand control. Examples of natural reservoirs are:

• Field mice, for hantavirusesand Lassa fever
• Marmots, black rats, prairie dogs, chipmunksand squirrelsfor bubonic plague
• Armadillosand opossumsfor Chagas disease
• Ticksfor babesiosisand Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Ground squirrels, porcupines, and chipmunks for Colorado tick fever
• Mosquitoesfor filariasisand malaria
• Snailsfor schistosomiasisand swimmer's itch
• Pigsfor cestodeworm infections
• Raccoons, skunks, foxesand batsfor rabies
• Shellfishfor cholera
• Fowl(ducksand geese) for avian flu

The concept of natural reservoir could also be extended to asymptomatic human bearers of the infecting agent, exemplified by the famous case of Typhoid Mary.

The natural reservoir of some diseases remain unknown. This is the case of the Eboladisease, which is caused by a virus.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural+reservoir Wikipedia article Natural reservoir.