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. 2022 Dec 20;25(4):1249–1264. doi: 10.1007/s10530-022-02978-1

Panel 2. Examples of evidence of actual impacts on human health following transmission of a zoonotic disease by an invasive alien species

There is unequivocal evidence that the spread and maintenance of serious human pathogens such as bacteria from the genera Leptospira, Bartonella and Yersinia followed the widespread human-mediated introduction of Norwegian rat, Rattus norvegicus, and the black rat, Rattus rattus to new areas, especially islands, through shipping during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The evidence for the actual impacts on transmission was based on global biogeographical studies of pathogens detected from rats and humans, facilitated by advances in molecular methods (Kosoy and Bai 2019) alongside empirical studies on host-vector-pathogen interactions (Moseley et al. 2018). Other significant actual impacts come from more recent invaders to Europe, such as Aedes mosquito vectors including Ae. albopictus providing the conditions for autochthonous outbreaks of arboviruses such as Dengue and Chikungunya in Europe within a decade of initial invasion and establishment (Leta et al. 2018).