Chapter 3 - Parasites in the cardiovascular system

Abstract

Over the last 100years, there have been extensive changes in climate, landscape, and ecosystems. These events, together with other factors such as increasing illegal wildlife trade and changing human behavior toward companion animals, are resulting into thinning boundaries between these animals, humans, and their wildlife counterparts. As a consequence, the epidemiology of diseases caused by a number of parasites is undergoing profound readjustments, as pathogens adapt to new hosts and environments. Therefore, there is a risk for parasitic diseases of dogs and cats to spread to wildlife and vice versa, and for zoonotic agents to emerge or re-emerge in human populations. Moreover, an increasing number of reports are becoming available on the transmission of parasites from animals to humans and vice versa. Despite the increasing interest for the ever-changing relationships between animals and humans, and between domestic and wildlife species, the flow of human and domestic animal parasites to wild carnivores has not been explored much. We reviewed the current taxonomy, biology, ecology, and epidemiology of four broad groups of parasites of canine and felines found in the circulatory system (either completely or a part of their developmental cycle), namely nematodes (Class: Nematoda), cestodes (Class: Cestoda), trematodes (Class: Trematoda), and protozoa. Advancements in the recent developments about these parasites are crucial to plan and develop adequate preventive and control strategies besides providing clear indications to policymakers on strategies to reduce the impact of these diseases on the changing ecosystems.