Zoonoses in the past: carnivores and deer as sources of parasitic zoonoses in Patagonia

CAÑAL VICTORIA; TIETZE, ELEONOR; SARDELLA, NORMA HAYDEÉ; BELTRAME, MARÍA ORNELA; BELLUSCI, AGUSTÍN

Arica

Congreso; Paleopathology Meeting in South America; 2017

Zoonoses are defined as diseases or infectionsthat are naturally transmissible from vertebrate orinvertebrate animals to humans and vice versa. Zoonoses are currentlyconsidered as some of the most important threats for Public Health worldwide. Viruses,parasites, bacteria and fungi can cause zoonotic infections. Numerous zoonosesknown today have occurred since antiquity. Palaeoparasitology is the study ofparasite remains from archaeological and palaeontological sites, focused on theknowledge of parasite-induced illness of humans and animals in the past and onthe palaeoecological knowledge of the environment, ecology, settlement, diet,hygiene and health in the antiquity. Palaeoparasitological studies on SouthAmerican ancient populations have shown the presence of zoonotic helminthes. Inarchaeological and paleontological sites from Patagonia in particular,paleoparasitological studies on carnivores and herbivores coprolites had shownthe presence of several parasitic species, some of them zoonotic. From ancienttimes, a close interaction among humans, carnivores and herbivores was present.This interaction may have favored the transmission of zoonotic parasiticdiseases. The objective of the present work is to display the findings oncarnivores and deer paleoparasitological studies done at present fromarchaeological sites from Patagonia and to analyze the results from a zoonoticpoint of view. The presence of parasites potentially causatives of humandiseases such as trematodioses, metastrongylosis, trichuriosis, strongylida andtrychostrongylida gastroenteritis, dioctophymosis, toxocarosis and dioctophymosis(repetida) were registered. Results displayed in this study are in line withthe reconstruction of the scenario of zoonoses in the past and with thediseases that the human populations and animals from Patagonia could beexposed.