{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T13:24:09Z","timestamp":1788269049090,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788220800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788220800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001502","name":"Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RTI 4006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RTI 4006"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001502","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Microbiol Spectr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Bacterial zoonoses constitute a significant proportion of emerging infectious diseases. Yet, the diversity and transmission cycles of many zoonotic bacteria remain poorly characterized, particularly in tropical, biodiverse regions where host and vector diversity are high, and the burden of zoonotic disease in human populations is substantial. In this study, we investigated the presence of five pathogenic bacterial genera\u2014\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rickettsia<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Leptospira<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Coxiella<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2014in rodents from southern India. We detected low circulation of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rickettsia<\/jats:italic>\n                      (7.26%),\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\n                      (6.45%), and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Leptospira<\/jats:italic>\n                      (0.8%), with limited coinfections, whereas\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Orientia<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Coxiella<\/jats:italic>\n                      were not detected in the rodents sampled. Notably, we observed contrasting patterns of tissue association, with rickettsiae detected exclusively in pooled organ tissues and borreliae detected only in blood, suggesting the influence of pathogen biology in detection probabilities. Our phylogenetic analyses further confirmed that the detected\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rickettsia<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\n                      belonged to the spotted fever group rickettsiae and relapsing fever group borreliae, respectively, in both synanthropic and forest-associated rats, highlighting a potential transmission risk to people and livestock in the region. By revealing the circulation of zoonotic bacteria in new host species, this study underscores the need for systematic surveillance of wildlife to better characterize bacterial diversity and its public health implications.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Many bacterial infections affecting humans originate in wild and synanthropic rodents, making it essential to characterize bacterial diversity in these hosts to predict and mitigate zoonotic risk. This study provides a molecular assessment of five pathogenic bacterial genera, including\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Rickettsia<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\n                      , in a rodent community in southern India, addressing a key geographic and taxonomic knowledge gap. By detecting low but persistent circulation of spotted fever group rickettsiae and relapsing fever group borreliae, our findings demonstrate that even low-prevalence systems can harbor epidemiologically significant diversity. Importantly, shared\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\n                      lineages between forest and synanthropic rodents highlight potential pathways for transmission across habitat boundaries and human exposure. Additionally, the detection of novel borreliae suggests that bacterial diversity in tropical wildlife communities is still poorly understood. Collectively, this study advances our understanding of zoonotic bacterial diversity in a biodiverse region and provides a foundation for improving wildlife surveillance and zoonotic risk assessment.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.02072-26","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T13:00:53Z","timestamp":1786366853000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Spotted fever\n                    <i>Rickettsia<\/i>\n                    and relapsing fever\n                    <i>Borrelia<\/i>\n                    in rodents from southern India"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9787-4569","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"B. 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