Parasites of wildlife – Special issue

Abstract

Interest in parasites of wildlife has increased significantly in recent years. Pleasingly, the role of wildlife as the source of emerging infectious diseases has been countered by reasoned and balanced responses from ecologists and conservationists concerned about the dearth of knowledge of the infectious agents harboured by wildlife, their impact on wildlife health, the factors, both natural and anthropogenic, that might cause perturbations in the host–parasite relationships, and the need for ongoing surveillance of wildlife populations. In essence, wildlife should be seen as a critical component of the One Health triad on an equal footing to humans and domestic animals – not just a source of disease. In its short history, we hope that International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife has contributed to this re-positioning of wildlife within One Health by promoting the broad scope of wildlife parasitology through the diversity of papers published to date. We were therefore delighted to accept an invitation to be joint editors of a special issue of Trends in Parasitology on wildlife parasitology. A series of broad-ranging reviews and opinion articles was solicited to provide the broad parasitological community with an insight into both neglected and emerging areas of wildlife parasitology, as well as fields in need of rejuvenation. We hope this will help to stimulate research on wildlife parasitology, especially by the development of multidisciplinary groups, and importantly direct authors to seek a dedicated forum for publishing their findings – International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife.