Abstract
Understanding the complex population biology and transmission ecology of multihost parasites has been declared as one of the major challenges of biomedical sciences for the 21st century and the Neglected Zoonotic Diseases (NZDs) are perhaps the most neglected of all the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). Here we consider how multihost parasite transmission and evolutionary dynamics may affect the success of human and animal disease control programmes, particularly neglected diseases of the developing world. We review the different types of zoonotic interactions that occur, both ecological and evolutionary, their potential relevance for current human control activities, and make suggestions for the development of an empirical evidence base and theoretical framework to better understand and predict the outcome of such interactions. In particular, we consider whether preventive chemotherapy, the current mainstay of NTD control, can be successful without a One Health approach. Transmission within and between animal reservoirs and humans can have important ecological and evolutionary consequences, driving the evolution and establishment of drug resistance, as well as providing selective pressures for spill-over, host switching, hybridizations and introgressions between animal and human parasites. Our aim here is to highlight the importance of both elucidating disease ecology, including identifying key hosts and tailoring control effort accordingly, and understanding parasite evolution, such as precisely how infectious agents may respond and adapt to anthropogenic change. Both elements are essential if we are to alleviate disease risks from NZDs in humans, domestic animals and wildlife.
Highlights
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world is faced with a changing landscape of infectious diseases that affect both humans and animals, many of which can pose significant threats to health and welfare
S. japonicum: Large number of domestic and wildlife reservoirs – in particular bovines and rodents, respectively; S. mansoni: baboons, rats S. haematobium: was assumed human-specific, but S. haematobium-group introgressed hybrids suspected within livestock and potentially wildlife, currently under investigation Pigs Dogs, cats, wild canids Baboons; pigs? Dogs?
These host species (which can refer to intermediate host and vector species (Molyneux 2003)) act as a source of parasitic infections and play a fundamental role in driving parasite gene flow through the community. They can act as a driver of evolutionary change, and potentially be a source of genetic bottlenecking within the parasite population. Due to both the clear importance of understanding such heterogeneities in disease transmission across host communities, and the likelihood that evolutionary selective forces may differ between such hosts and environments, it is thereby imperative to first identify key host species acting as reservoirs of infection (Haydon et al 2002)
Summary
One health – an ecological and evolutionary framework for tackling Neglected Zoonotic Diseases. Ecology, evolution, key hosts, NTDs, NZDs, preventive chemotherapy, zoonoses
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