Parasitic, fungal and prion zoonoses: an expanding universe of candidates for human disease.
Zoonotic infections have emerged as a burden for millions of people in recent years, owing to re-emerging or novel pathogens often causing outbreaks in the developing world in the presence of inadequate public health infrastructure. Among zoonotic infections, those caused by parasitic pathogens are the ones that affect millions of humans worldwide, who are also at risk of developing chronic disease. The present review discusses the global effect of protozoan pathogens such as Leishmania sp., Trypanosoma sp., and Toxoplasma sp., as well as helminthic pathogens such as Echinococcus sp., Fasciola sp., and Trichinella sp. The zoonotic aspects of agents that are not essentially zoonotic are also discussed. The review further focuses on the zoonotic dynamics of fungal pathogens and prion diseases as observed in recent years, in an evolving environment in which novel patient target groups have developed for agents that were previously considered to be obscure or of minimal significance.
Internal Medicine Department, General Hospital G. Hatzikosta, Ioannina, Greece. nakritid@yahoo.com
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Akritidis
D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D009181:Mycoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011528:Protozoan Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology