Reviewing biodiversity and epidemiological aspects of anisakid nematodes from the North-east Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

This review provides an inventory of the biodiversity of the anisakid species identified so far from fish and marine mammals of the NE Atlantic Ocean. The paper reviews and discusses various taxonomical and epidemiological aspects related to biodiversity assessment, with emphasis on: (1) taxa recognized as 'biological species' based on molecular/genetic markers; (2) current molecular/genetic approaches to identify the species at different developmental stages; (3) ecological data related to the actual geographical distribution and definitive host preferences of the species; (4) their distribution in various, commercially important fish species in northern European waters; (5) their possible occurrence in farmed fish; and, finally, (6) an update of their zoonotic potential as causative agents of anisakidosis in humans.

The Mediterranean European hake, Merluccius merluccius : Detecting drivers influencing the Anisakis spp. larvae distribution

“…The larval stages of Anisakis spp. commonly infect the viscera and musculature of many teleost species (Mattiucci and Nascetti, 2008;Mattiucci et al, 2017a). Nine species of Anisakis have been detected and genetically characterized (Mattiucci et al, 2009;2014b).…”

“…from this fish host, data on their distribution in the edible parts of the fish for humans, as compared with the viscera, are important, since larval Anisakis are etiological agents of human anisakiasis. Over the last 30 years, there has been an increase in cases of human anisakiasis throughout the world (Bao et al, 2017;Mattiucci et al, 2017a). So far, among the nine species of Anisakis genetically characterized (Mattiucci and Nascetti, 2008;Mattiucci et al, 2009), A. simplex (s. s.) and A. pegreffii are currently reported as zoonotic species causing human anisakiasis (D'Amelio et al, 1999;Umehara et al, 2007;Fumarola et al, 2009;Mattiucci et al, 2011Mattiucci et al, , 2013Mattiucci et al, , 2017bArai et al, 2014;Lim et al, 2015;Mladineo et al, 2016).…”

Anisakis pegreffii impacts differentiation and function of human dendritic cells

“…Among these, Anisakis simplex (sensu stricto ) and Anisakis pegreffii are shown to play a zoonotic role in humans . Anisakis pegreffii infection can provoke gastric (GA), intestinal (IA) and gastroallergic anisakiasis (GAA) …”

Risk-based scoring and genetic identification for anisakids in frozen fish products from Atlantic FAO areas

“…Cipriani et al [7] noted that in M. merluccius from FAO area 27, A. simplex larvae outnumbers A. pegreffii larvae in the flesh of the same fish host; on the other hand, in the viscera the mean abundance of two larvae species was superimposable. This phenomenon could be the result of different resource utilization or linked to the different migrating ability of the Anisakis species because of different abilities of the two species to respond to the fish host's immune system [39].…”