Wildlife parasites in a One Health world

Abstract

One Health has gained a remarkable profile in the animal and public health communities, in part owing to the pressing issues of emerging infectious diseases of wildlife origin. Wildlife parasitology can offer insights into One Health, and likewise One Health can provide justification to study and act on wildlife parasites. But how do we decide which wildlife parasites are One Health issues? We explore toxoplasmosis in wildlife in the Canadian Arctic as an example of a parasite that poses a risk to human health, and that also has potential to adversely affect wildlife populations of conservation concern and importance for food security and cultural well-being. This One Health framework can help communities, researchers, and policymakers prioritize issues for action in a resource-limited world.

Keywords: biodiversity; conservation; food security; parasitology; wildlife.

Figure 1

Complexities of transmission of Toxoplasma gondii in Arctic regions in the absence of felid definitive hosts (DH) that shed oocysts above the treeline. Complexities include the possibilities of parasite flow among terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems; south to north transport of tissue cysts in migratory wildlife intermediate hosts (IH); and congenital (transplacental) transmission, which is thought to occur in most mammalian hosts. Adapted with permission from Audrey Simon, PhD Thesis, Université de Montréal, 2012.