Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

While little information is available on the distribution and incidence of most of the diseases with rodent reservoirs, many of them are known to be widespread and may have considerable public health importance in some of the foci in which they are found. The World Health Organization Is carrying out investigations on the epidemiology of several diseases with rodent reservoirs and on the biology and ecology of the rodent reservoir species themselves. These investigations are being carried out both at WHO research units and with collaborating laboratories. Based on the ecological information the organization is attempting to develop effective and economically acceptable methods and materials to control rodent populations to a point where transmission of disease no longer occurs.