Historical Spatial Distribution of Zoonotic Diseases in Domestic, Synanthropic, and Wild Animals in the Mexican Territory of the Yucatan Peninsula

Abstract

The Mexican territory of the Yucatan Peninsula has a tropical climate and harbors a wide variety of domestic, synanthropic, and wild animals, as well as disease vectors. To determine the distribution of recorded zoonotic diseases in the Yucatan Peninsula, scientific publications referring to these diseases in animals and containing geographic coordinates of disease occurrence, were studied. The epidemiological bulletins of the national government were also consulted to obtain information on zoonotic diseases reported in humans in the territory. The territory harbors a wide variety of tropical zoonotic pathogens, including Trypanosoma cruzi, Leptospira interrogans, Toxoplasma gondii, Leishmania mexicana, Dirofilaria immitis, and Rickettsia felis. A variety of domestic, synanthropic, and wild animals act as hosts or reservoirs in the transmission cycle of the zoonotic diseases in the Yucatan Peninsula, and some spillover into human populations has also been recorded. There are still zoonotic diseases that have rarely or never been reported in humans, but it is not clear whether this is because these diseases in humans are not common, there is a lack of viable transmission cycle or there is a lack of appropriate diagnosis. It is necessary to continue monitoring vectors, animal hosts, and humans to identify risk factors for zoonotic diseases in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Prevalence and transmission of the most relevant zoonotic and vector-borne pathogens in the Yucatan peninsula: A review

“…cruzi can also be oral, congenital, and can occur through blood transfusion and organ transplants [ 75 , 76 ]. It is important to emphasize that, regardless of their classification, these are causative agents of neglected infectious diseases [ 19 , 49 , 77 – 80 ]. Their high global prevalence disproportionately affects the poorest human communities, as their epidemiology is complex and often related to climatic characteristics, socioeconomic level, environmental degradation, precarious sanitary infrastructure, and limited access to quality healthcare services [ 81 ].…”

“…This highlights the importance of domestic animals and their hematophagous ectoparasites in maintaining infectious cycles in human settlements, while synanthropic animals (e.g. vectors, bats, rodents, marsupials) can connect transmission cycles between sylvatic and urban habitats [ 19 , 60 ]. Although infection prevalence aims to understand the transmission cycles of etiologic agents [ 80 ], such data depend on various factors and thus should be interpreted with caution.…”

“…We conducted a systematic review on vector-borne and zoonotic pathogens in the Yucatan peninsula (YP), considering the PRISMA criteria to identify, collect, select, and analyze studies and their relevant information [ 20 ]. The search encompassed from 2015 to 2024 and covered recently published sources, thus this work does not present the historical context on the topic, which has been reviewed elsewhere [see 1 , 19 ]. We searched different databases including SciELO [ 21 ] and LILACS [ 22 ] to access the main sources of scientific and technical literature from Latin America and the Caribbean [ 23 ], as well as ScienceDirect [ 24 ], NCBI PubMed [ 25 ], and Google Scholar [ 26 ].…”

“…dengue, Zika, rabies, West Nile virus). Notably, these pathogens can be found in the YP and pose significant risks to human health [ 15 – 19 ].…”

An exploratory survey of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in carnivores (Urocyon cinereoargenteus and Spilogale angustifrons) of Yucatan, Mexico.

“…Embora os resultados obtidos neste estudo sejam preliminares /exploratórios e as amostras utilizadas conservadas há 10 e 30 anos, consideramos que são relevantes pois fornecem informações sobre a circulação natural de T. cruzi em carnívoros sinantrópicos selvagens no estado de Yucatan. No entanto, um estudo recente que sintetiza os casos de doenças zoonóticas notificados entre 1995 e 2019 na Península de Yucatan, mostrou que, o T. cruzi continua a circular entre os animais sinantrópicos, principalmente roedores, gambás e cães, bem como animais selvagens, como morcegos e roedores 37 . A captura destes carnívoros em ecótopos humanos (como todos os indivíduos analisados neste estudo), sugere que estes mamíferos poderiam estar envolvidos no ciclo peridoméstico e no fluxo de cepas de T. cruzi de origem selvagem para a área peridomiciliar humana rural de Yucatan.…”