Rodents can transmit several diseasesto to human and other animals and cause economic damages. This study looked at rodent population in a veterinary hospital concerning the followings aspects: rodent specie, sex, reproductive period, seasonality and research for Leptospira sp. In addition, rodents from an Atlantic forest fragment were captured and examined for Leptospira sp. Infection. Both the hospital and the forest were located at Zona da Mata region, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. 72 animals were captured at the veterinary hospital, 22 (30.6%) had been characterised according to Rattus rattus species and most of them (66.7%) were captured in small animals sector. There were no significant differences between males and females in reproductive period (chi2=1.85; p=0.174; alpha=0.05). Rodents were captured all over the year. The highest percentages were observed in January (12.5%), February (15.2%), May (15.2%) and July (16.7%), and the lowest in August (2.8%), September (4.2%) and October (1.4%). There was no positive identification of animals for Leptospira sp., by microagglutination and histopathological exams. The animals from the forest were identified as wild rodents. 16 (50%) OligOryzomis sp, 11 (34.3%) Akodon sp, 3 (9.3%) Oximicterus sp, 1(3.2%) Bolomys sp, 1 (3.2%) Oryzomis sp. There weren´t either any findings of positive animals by histopathological exam. The presence of Rattus rattus in the veterinary hospital could be explained by the existence of appropriate places for hiding and food availability, in amount and quality suitable to this species. These conditions allow for the maintenance of rodents during all over the year, and of males and females ready for reproduction. At the hospital, the absence of positive results for Leptospira sp. do not exclude the potential of the rodents as reservoirs of such pathogen, since a veterinary hospital can always shelter domestic species for treatment that could be eliminating the Leptospira sp. The captured wild species apparently do not represent reservoirs of Leptospira sp.
rodents; population dynamics; leptospirosis; veterinary hospital
