Advances in parasitology
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Advances in parasitology · Jan 2020
ReviewCanine Toxocariosis: Its prevalence, incidence and occurrence in the Indian subcontinent.
Toxocariosis is an important neglected tropical helminth disease of zoonotic significance for which canids are the definitive hosts. Dogs are also considered the sentinel host for the occurrence of T. canis infections in humans. Therefore, understanding its prevalence in canine population is imperative for any effective disease control in humans. ⋯ Factors influencing the regional prevalence/occurrence of T. canis such as type of canids (stray or pet), age, sex, breed, season and the choice of analytical methods were also discussed. In addition, data on the prevalence of T. canis in environmental samples and in zoo canids were also compiled and presented. We anticipate such an exhaustive review of literature available mostly in the journals published from the subcontinent would become a point source of information necessary for prioritizing future surveillance efforts in this region and for making informed policy decision to control this zoonotic helminth infection.
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Advances in parasitology · Jan 2017
ReviewGlobal Distribution of Alveolar and Cystic Echinococcosis.
Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic echinococcosis (CE) are severe helminthic zoonoses. Echinococcus multilocularis (causative agent of AE) is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere where it is typically maintained in a wild animal cycle including canids as definitive hosts and rodents as intermediate hosts. ⋯ Over the past two decades, numerous studies have addressed the epidemiology and distribution of these Echinococcus species worldwide, resulting in better-defined boundaries of the endemic areas. This chapter presents the global distribution of Echinococcus species and human AE and CE in maps and summarizes the global data on host assemblages, transmission, prevalence in animal definitive hosts, incidence in people and molecular epidemiology.
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Advances in parasitology · Mar 2015
Economic and financial evaluation of neglected tropical diseases.
Economic and financing studies are particularly important for decision-making when resources are scarce or considerably limited. This is the case for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In fact, the definition of NTDs is an economic one. ⋯ Hence, approaches used for other diseases may need modifications to capture the full impact of NTDs. While the existing literature has made important findings, there is a need for substantially more work, as many NTDs and their associated interventions and policies require more evaluation. With increasing work in this area, NTDs may not be as 'neglected' in the future as they are now.
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Fascioliasis is a food-borne parasitic disease caused by the trematode species Fasciola hepatica, distributed worldwide, and Fasciola gigantica, restricted to given regions of Africa and Asia. This disease in humans shows an increasing importance, which relies on its recent widespread emergence related to climate and global changes and also on its pathogenicity in the invasive, biliary, and advanced chronic phases in the human endemic areas, mainly of developing countries. In spite of the large neurological affection capacity of Fasciola, this important pathogenic aspect of the disease has been pronouncedly overlooked in the past decades and has not even appear within the numerous reviews on the parasitic diseases of the central nervous system. ⋯ Moreover, physicians may not be aware about the potential relationship between liver fluke infection and neurological implications, and such cases may therefore remain misdiagnosed, even in developed countries. Priority should henceforth be given to the consideration of neurological and ocular affection in human endemic areas, and efforts should be implemented to assess their characteristics and frequency. Their impact should also be considered when estimating the global burden of fascioliasis.
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Advances in parasitology · Jan 2014
ReviewReevaluating the evidence for Toxoplasma gondii-induced behavioural changes in rodents.
The ubiquitous protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii has been associated with behavioural changes in various hosts, including humans. In rodents, these behavioural changes are thought to represent adaptive manipulation by T. gondii to enhance transmission from intermediate hosts to the feline definitive host. In this review, we have tabulated evidence of changes in motor coordination, learning, memory, locomotion, anxiety, response to novelty and aversion to feline odour in rodents experimentally infected with T. gondii. ⋯ First, they should use multiple tests of behaviour, followed by multivariate data analysis to identify behavioural constructs such as aversion, anxiety and response to novelty. Second, they should incorporate longitudinal measurements on the behaviour of individual hosts before and after infection, so that within-individual and between-individual variances and covariances in behavioural traits can be estimated. Finally, they should investigate how variables such as parasite strain, host species and host sex interact with parasite infection to alter host behaviour, in order to provide a sound foundation for research concerning the proximate and ultimate mechanism(s) responsible for behavioural changes.