A prospective view of animal and human Fasciolosis

Abstract

SummaryFasciolosis, a food‐borne trematodiasis, results following infection with the parasites, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. These trematodes greatly affect the global agricultural community, infecting millions of ruminants worldwide and causing annual economic losses in excess of US $3 billion. Fasciolosis, an important zoonosis, is classified by WHO as a neglected tropical disease with an estimated 17 million people infected and a further 180 million people at risk of infection. The significant impact on agriculture and human health together with the increasing demand for animal‐derived food products to support global population growth demonstrate that fasciolosis is a major One Health problem. This review details the problematic issues surrounding fasciolosis control, including drug resistance, lack of diagnosis and the threat that hybridization of the Fasciola species poses to future animal and human health. We discuss how these parasites may mediate their long‐term survival through regulation and modulation of the host immune system, by altering the host immune homeostasis and/or by influencing the intestinal microbiome particularly in respect to concurrent infections with other pathogens. Large genome, transcriptome and proteomic data sets are now available to support an integrated One Health approach to develop novel diagnostic and control strategies for both animal and human disease.

Immune response of rats vaccinated orally with various plant-expressed recombinant cysteine proteinase constructs when challenged with Fasciola hepatica metacercariae

“…hepatica drug resistance becomes more frequent, it is possible that there will be more cases of infection in humans with drug-resistant F . hepatica , which poses a real problem for the treatment of human fasciolosis [18]. The emergence of drug-resistant parasites [19–23], combined with the growing consumer concern over chemical residues in food and their passage into the environment, have prompted the need for novel means of disease control [24].…”

<i>Fasciola hepatica</i> infection in water buffalo <i>Bubalus bubalis</i> in three provinces of the Nile Delta, Egypt: a cross-sectional study

“…It is found chiefly in cattle, sheep, goats, and buffaloes, but it also affects humans. It is estimated that over 17 million people are infected worldwide, and a further 180 million people in endemic areas are at risk of infection [8]. Human infection typically occurs via the consumption of aquatic vegetables such as watercress, or water contaminated with encysted cercariae.…”

A cross sectional study on prevalence of cattle fasciolosis and associated economical losses in cattle slaughtered at Gondar Elfora Abattoir, northwest Ethiopia

“…Fasciolosis is of the parasitic diseases of domestic livestock caused by Fasciola hepatica and Faciola gigantica, commonly called liver flukes that are the most important trematodes afflicting the global agricultural community (Cwiklinski et al, 2016;Deepak and Singla, 2016;Andrews, 1999). Fasciolosis is a neglected tropical disease having both economy and zoonotic importance usually affects poor people from developing countries (Mas-Coma et al, 2014).…”