Carnivores as zoonotic parasite reservoirs in ancient times: the case of the Epullán Chica archaeological cave (Late Holocene, northwestern Patagonia, Argentina)

BELTRAME M. ORNELA; BELLUSCI AGUSTÍN; FERNANDO JULIÁN FERNÁNDEZ; SARDELLA NORMA H.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Springer

Año: 2018 vol. 10 p. 795 - 804

1866-9557

Zoonoses are currently considered as one of themost important threats for Public Health worldwide.Numerous zoonoses known today have occurred since antiquity.Carnivores act as definitive hosts for many intestinalparasites; some of them are responsible for several zoonoticdiseases. The aim of this work was to study the parasite remainsfound in coprolites assigned to carnivores from thearchaeological site Epullán Chica (ECh) and to discuss theresults from a zoonotic point of view. ECh is located in northwesternPatagonia, Argentina and was occupied since the endof the Late Holocene (∼2200 years B.P.). Nine coprolites wereexamined for parasites. Samples were processed by rehydrationin a 0.5%water solution of trissodium phosphate, followedby homogenization, filtered and processed by spontaneoussedimentation. The macroscopic remains were separated anddried at room temperature and were examined for diet analysis.Six out of 9 coprolites examined were positive for parasites.Representatives of at least 10 parasite taxa were registered.Results are in line with the reconstruction of the scenarioof zoonoses in the past and the diseases that the humanpopulations and animals from Patagonia could be exposed.The present study provides the first palaeoparasitologicalreport of carnivore coprolites recovered from the archaeologicalsite Ech and reflects contamination of the cave used byhunter-gatherers with different parasites causative of zoonoticdiseases.