Editorial: Foodborne Zoonotic Parasites and Parasitoses

Marina Winter ¹ Carlos Landaeta-Aqueveque ^2*

• ¹ National University of Río Negro, Viedma, Río Negro, Argentina
• ² University of Concepcion, Concepción, Chile

The complex life cycles of parasites are dynamic. Parasites are living organisms that can adapt to new hosts or change their preferences according to geographic regions. People are either obligate or accidental hosts of numerous zoonotic parasitic species. Historically, many parasitic diseases have been classified as neglected diseases and have been associated with developing countries and lowincome human populations (1). However, some important parasites are also widely present worldwide, are even re-emerging in some countries (2, 3), and represent a persistent threat to global health.The transmission routes of parasites are numerous. Among the indirect routes, food (including water) is one of the main ones. Foodborne parasites are not only those whose etiological agents deliberately use food for their transmission, such as Fasciola hepatica, which encysts as metacercariae in vegetables, or Trichinella spiralis, which is encapsulated in meat (endogenous contamination), they also include parasites transmitted by contaminated water and raw vegetables (exogenous contamination) (4). Many groups of zoonotic parasites can be classified as foodborne ones, as those that are fecal-orally transmitted by means of cysts or oocysts, as Toxoplasma gondii; or through eggs or larvae, as gastrointestinal helminths. Another group of foodborne zoonotic parasites includes those that survive within the hosts until the consumption, either encysted or encapsulated, as Taenia solium, Trichinella spp. or, again, T. gondii. Foodborne diseases are among the most important zoonoses in public health. Thus, food production systems pose challenge and threat to human 29 health. 30 This Research Topic explores three fundamental aspects of knowledge: surveillance in wild animals, 31 the compilation of prevalence and assessment of risk factors specific populations, and the 32 evaluation of prevention actions and their impact. 33Small-scale research is often underestimated. However, the results obtained in local research can 34 have repercussions first at a regional level and then at a global level. 35Surveillance of zoonotic parasites in wild animals has become a central issue in recent decades 36 because wildlife is now recognized as playing an important role in the reservoir of zoonotic diseases, 37 either as maintenance populations or as parasite disseminators among locations. In the case of the 38 genus Trichinella, both roles have been described depending to the parasite species. Trichinella 39 spiralis is mainly associated with domestic cycles, while the other species primarily have sylvatic 40