Parasites Circulation Between the Three Domains of One Health

A special issue of Parasitologia (ISSN 2673-6772).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1185

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
One Health Working Group, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Interests: wildlife parasites; zoonotic diseases; environmental epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Physiology and Animal Nutrition, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
Interests: wildlife health; parasites; microepidemiology; zoonoses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human activities strongly influence natural habitats. Animal farms and human settlements can affect the environment indirectly by environmental pollution and directly with encroachment into wildlife habitats. Contact between wildlife and the synanthropic habitats can transmit pathogens and can increase the health risk of humans. A shortage of resources, which must be shared by human, domestic animal, and wildlife populations, can amplify the damaging effects of different pathogens. The situation is worsened by climate change that can cause the occurrence of new pathogens or new phenotypes of old ones, and modifies the environment itself. The interface between wildlife and synanthropic habitats functions in a complex way with close interdependence of all sides, which needs a special approach. One Health provides the best methods to investigate the pathogen circulation between wildlife, domestic animals and human communities.

For this Special Issue, manuscripts on the following topics are encouraged for submission:

  • Parasites of shared habitats;
  • Anthelmintic resistance;
  • Emerging parasites;
  • Climate-sensitive parasitic infections;
  • One Health approach to parasitic diseases;
  • Livestock-health-related human–wildlife conflicts;
  • Other aspects of the livestock–wildlife interface.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Pathogens.

Dr. Gábor Nagy
Dr. Ágnes Csivincsik
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • parasites of shared habitats
  • anthelmintic resistance
  • emerging parasites
  • climate sensitive parasitic infections
  • One Health approach to parasitic diseases
  • livestock-health-related human-wildlife conflicts
  • other aspects of the livestock-wildlife interface

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1463 KiB  
Article
Intestinal Microbial Eukaryotes at the Human, Animal and Environment Interface in Rural Iraq
by Yaseen Majid Salman Al-Adilee, Maulood M. Shather, Dalia A. Kalef, Sadiya Maxamhud, Eylem Akdur Öztürk, Eleni Gentekaki and Anastasios D. Tsaousis
Parasitologia 2025, 5(3), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia5030034 - 9 Jul 2025
Viewed by 370
Abstract
Intestinal microbial eukaryotic parasites represent a significant public and veterinary health burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries, yet their transmission dynamics at the human–animal–environment interface remain poorly characterized in certain countries. This study investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of key microbial [...] Read more.
Intestinal microbial eukaryotic parasites represent a significant public and veterinary health burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries, yet their transmission dynamics at the human–animal–environment interface remain poorly characterized in certain countries. This study investigated the prevalence and genetic diversity of key microbial eukaryotes, including Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, Blastocystis spp., Entamoeba histolytica, and Enterocytozoon bieneusi, in a rural village in Iraq. Samples collected from humans (n = 50), livestock (sheep and goats, n = 50), water (n = 20), and soil (n = 20) were analysed using microscopy and molecular methods (qPCR and nested PCR). Blastocystis spp. (78% animals, 16% humans, 45% soil, 5% water) and Cryptosporidium spp. (26% animals, 12% humans, 5% soil, 15% water) were the most frequently found microeukaryotes using either microscopy and/or molecular detection. Molecular methods identified Cryptosporidium parvum in humans and sheep, hinting at zoonotic transmission potential. Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Giardia were also found. Cryptosporidium ubiquitum and E. bieneusi genotypes BEB6 and COS-I, respectively, were detected exclusively in sheep, suggesting roles as potential reservoirs. Blastocystis ST1 was detected in humans, while ST4 and ST10 occurred in sheep. Notably, molecular detection rates of Blastocystis were much lower than those of microscopy. Entamoeba histolytica was not detected. The detection of the same organisms in humans, animals and the environment suggest zoonotic and environmental transmission pathways, which warrant further investigation using the One Health approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parasites Circulation Between the Three Domains of One Health)
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13 pages, 1611 KiB  
Article
Human Impact on the Composition of Small-Intestine Helminth Infracommunities in Canine Mesocarnivores, with a Special Focus on Echinococcus multilocularis
by Sibusiso Moloi, Ágnes Csivincsik, Eszter Nagy, Tamás Tari, Tibor Halász, Klaudia Polgár and Gábor Nagy
Parasitologia 2025, 5(3), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/parasitologia5030030 - 23 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Estimating the human impact on parasites in wildlife is essential to create efficient strategies to control diseases and improve public health. This study assessed the human influence on the parasite burden of the two commonest canine mesocarnivores, the red fox (N = 194) [...] Read more.
Estimating the human impact on parasites in wildlife is essential to create efficient strategies to control diseases and improve public health. This study assessed the human influence on the parasite burden of the two commonest canine mesocarnivores, the red fox (N = 194) and the golden jackal (N = 151), in Europe. We compared the infracommunity crowding index, parasite diversity, prevalence, and abundance of different parasite taxa, and the presence of Echinococcus multilocularis between groups of hosts, such as jackals and foxes hunted at different distances from human settlements. The analysis of hosts’ distribution ascertained that 61.2% of the investigated wild canids were hunted in a 500–1750 m ring around the human settlements. Ancylostomatidae proved the most prevalent taxon (>60%), while Echinococcus multilocularis and Dipylidium caninum occurred least frequently. The two taxa that mostly contributed to the crowding of infracommunities were Ancylostomatidae and Toxocaridae, with a negative correlation between their abundances (Spearman’s ρ = −0.445, p < 0.001). Parasite infracommunities were more crowded in Echinococcus multilocularis infected foxes (p = 0.02) and jackals (p = 0.001). Our study highlighted that human modification of landscapes worsened the parasite burden of wild mesocarnivores, which could increase the public health risk of zoonotic parasites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Parasites Circulation Between the Three Domains of One Health)
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