Occurrence of Rickettsia spp., Hantaviridae , Bartonella spp. and Leptospira spp. in European Moles ( Talpa europaea ) from the Netherlands.

The European mole () has a widespread distribution throughout Europe. However, little is known about the presence of zoonotic pathogens in European moles. We therefore tested 180 moles from the middle and the south of the Netherlands by (q)PCR for the presence of multiple (tick-borne) zoonotic pathogens. Spotted fever was found in one (0.6%), spp. in three (1.7%), spp. in 69 (38.3%) and in 89 (49.4%) of the 180 moles. Infections with , spp., , spp., spp. and were not found. In addition, in a subset of 35 moles no antibodies against were found. The obtained sequences of spp. were closely related to spp. sequences from moles in Spain and Hungary. The were identified as the mole-borne Nova virus, with high sequence similarity to sequences from other European countries, and Bruges virus. Though the zoonotic risk from moles appears limited, our results indicate that these animals do play a role in multiple host-pathogen cycles.