DiseaseDisease

Disease

There is limited understanding of the potential prevalence or impact of disease on the Pookila. In general, screening of native rodents for pathogens has been very limited and little information is available on symptomology (Thompson et al. 2010). However, feral cats and invasive rodents carry diseases that could impact the Pookila. In particular, Toxoplasma gondii, a virulent parasite spread by cats, is likely present through much of the species’ former range (Dickson 2018). Previous experimental trials in other Pseudomys species demonstrated rapid, high mortality rates after infection with T. gondii, hence this parasite is likely to also increase the mortality of the Pookila (Burns 2019a).