Parasitism of Prehistoric Humans and Companion Animals from Antelope Cave, Mojave County, Northwest Arizona

Abstract

Previously, we reported a tick recovered from Antelope Cave in extreme northwest Arizona.

Food, parasites, and epidemiological transitions: A broad perspective

“…Reviews of parasite evidence from New World archaeological sites show that zoonotic infections from wild reservoirs were diverse and common , Fugassa et al, 2011, Moore et al, 1969, Reinhard, 1990and Sianto et al, 2009). In addition, diverse flukes and tapeworms infected prehistoric Americans, varying across local resources and varied continental ecologies (Fry, 1977, Gonçalves et al, 2003, Reinhard, 1990, 1992aand Sianto et al, 2009.…”

“…Reinhard (1990) reviewed the many finds of acanthocephlans in Oregon, Utah and Colorado and concluded that these were true infections. Another thorny-headed worm genus, Macracanthorhynchus was recently reported (Fugassa et al, 2011;Jiménez et al, 2012). In this case, humans adapted by consuming a natural anthelmintic, sagebrush tea (Artemisia sp.)…”

“…In this case, humans adapted by consuming a natural anthelmintic, sagebrush tea (Artemisia sp.) (Fugassa et al, 2011;Reinhard et al, 2012). This discovery is from agricultural Ancestral Pueblo coprolites.…”

“…This discovery is from agricultural Ancestral Pueblo coprolites. Habitual ingestion of raw or poorly cooked insects contributed to what seems to have been a common infection by thorny-headed worms from hunter-gatherer to Formative agricultural times (Fry, 1977, Fugassa et al, 2011and Moore et al, 1969. Most importantly, thorny-headed worm infection was present on both sides of the agricultural revolution in the region and indicates that the first paleoepidemiologic transition did not affect infection with acanthocephalan species.…”

Lutz's spontaneous sedimentation technique and the paleoparasitological analysis of sambaqui (shell mound) sediments

“…Although the Acanthocephala and Heterakoidea species are not commonly found in humans, they may occasionally cause true infections in the human host. Interestingly, Acanthocephala eggs have been found at archaeological sites associated with humans (Fry & Hall 1969, Moore et al 1969, Fry 1970, Schmidt 1971, Ferreira et al 1989, Fugassa et al 2011. Parasites of the Acanthocephala phylum are primarily transmitted by the consumption of infected arthropods, which act as intermediate hosts (Moore et al 1969, Vicente et al 1997.…”