Comparative Parasitological Perspectives on Epidemiologic Transitions

Food, parasites, and epidemiological transitions: A broad perspective

“…There is strong evidence that the first epidemiologic transition, associated with increased prevalence of infectious diseases and poor sanitation, occurred in Europe (Barrett et al, 1998;Le Bailly and Bouchet, 2010). This is characterized in the parasitological record by ubiquitous infections with geohelminths (soil transmitted helminths) (Reinhard and Pucu, 2013). By contrast, zoonotic infections from wild reservoirs become less common as zoonotic infections from domesticated reservoirs increases (Bouchet et al, 2003b;Le Bailly and Bouchet, 2010).…”

“…Indeed, the first and second paleoepidemiological transitions, as witnessed by parasitology, occurred nearly simultaneously in the Americas (Reinhard and Pucu, 2013).…”

“…This is best seen in the European archaeological record where food-borne parasites were replaced as a major health hazard by filth-borne and crowd parasites. This is extensively reviewed and discussed by Reinhard and Pucu (2013). They summarize the archaeological studies of parasites and found that fecal-borne parasites were ubiquitous in European societies from the Iron Age onwards.…”

“…Whereas great numbers of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura eggs have been found in most archaeological sites in Europe, these eggs are rare in the pre-Columbian Western Hemisphere (Gonçalves et al, 2003and Reinhard and Pucu, 2013. A variety of conditions in the ancient Americas hampered these parasites' ability to infect new susceptible hosts (Reinhard, 1988(Reinhard, , 1990Reinhard and Pucu, 2013). Finding explanations for this difference is a focus of current and future research at the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.…”

“…Importantly, it is likely that the humoral theory limited the response to disease. The failure of European medicine to recognize the contagion theory until remarkably late in history made populations there intellectually susceptible to infection as reviewed by Reinhard and Pucu (2013). This failure encouraged the use of human feces as agricultural fertilizer.…”