Paleoparasitología

FUGASSA MARTÍN H.; SARDELLA NORMA H.; BELTRAME M. ORNELA; CUMINO ANDREA; PETRIGH ROMINA; TAGLIORETTI, VERÓNICA; MITTON FRANCESCA

Congreso; . International Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology.; 2011

Paleoparasitology is focused on the parasitological examination of materials found in archaeological and paleontological deposits. It provides information about various cultural, paleoecological and evolutionary aspects. Parasitic relationships are sensitive indicators of developmental, ecological and cultural aspects of host populations. Depending on the biocultural and paleoenvironmental information provided by other disciplines, gives a broader interpretation of the evidences. Thus, the parasites become indicators of potential exposure of humans and animals to zoonotic diseases, the association with wild animals, domestication, hygiene, mobility, demographical trends, and consumption of prey.  Paleoparasitology was born from a sanitary concept of parasitism, an approach that examined the evidences only related to the disease in ancient populations. Today, the parasites are recognized as useful tools in various disciplinary fields, either as biological indicators of zoonoses, environmental impact, settlement, phylogenetic relationships among species of hosts and parasites, human migrations, among others. The aim of the working group is the identification of parasites in archaeological and paleontological sites and the interpretation of the emergence of host-parasite systems based on the living conditions of ancient populations, of both human and animals. It is interested to know the paleoepidemiology of parasitism in Argentina, the biogeographic history of parasites and hosts and the biocultural aspects such as diet and hygiene. This objective implies further expand the evidences by examining samples in a broader spatial scale, incorporating new techniques and adapting the existing tools in order to have sensitive and specifics diagnosis. Research is organized into the following areas: a) Molecular Paleoparasitology: DNA and antigen detection from ancient archaeological sediments, b) Paleoparasitological studies on zoonoses in hunter-gatherers, c) Paleoparasitological studies from coprolites of camelids, and d) The role of parasites found in the feces of rodents in Patagonia. These research need current information for comparative purposes. Several parasitological studies are conducted with feces of wild mammals in Patagonia, which provides information of parasites living in the modern mammal fauna. The study of parasitic relationships in archaeological contexts of Patagonia was conceived to give information, useful to the paleoepidemiology of enteroparasites and zoonoses, as well as to reconstruct the common biogeography of parasites and hosts in the area under study.