Relevance of Parasitological Research in the South of the Russian Far East

Abstract

Background: The south of the Russian Far East including the Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Regions is a unique area in terms of richness of the parasite fauna. Historically, ideal conditions for the existence of various foci of parasitic infections have formed locally. The objective of our study was to provide a brief description of the history of parasitological studies conducted in the south of the Russian Far East since the first half of the 20th century and to demonstrate their relevance. Materials and methods: We analyzed appropriate literary sources found in the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Elsevier, Springer, and Google Scholar databases. Results: We established that the species diversity of trematodes was studied better than that of cestodes, nematodes, higher and lower monogeneans. The accumulated knowledge is fundamental for understanding distribution and pathogenicity of helminths. However, contemporary parasitological research is characterized by a high level of interdisciplinarity and integration. A simple systematization of parasites is no longer enough; it is necessary to characterize molecular mechanisms underlying pathogenesis, antigenic variability, and drug resistance. The article discusses perspectives of future parasitological research of the biology of endo- and ectoparasites, host–parasite interactions and links at different levels of organization: biocenotic, population and organismic, complementing theoretical data on the processes of microevolution and coevolution of the pathogen and the host. Conclusion: Existing problems can be solved using proteomic, genomic, transcriptomic, and bioinformatics approaches that contribute to a better understanding of the biology of objects and are promising for identification of clinically important biological characteristics of parasitic organisms.