Human and Animal Fascioliasis: Origins and Worldwide Evolving Scenario

Clin Microbiol Rev. 2022 Dec 21;35(4):e0008819. doi: 10.1128/cmr.00088-19. Epub 2022 Dec 5.

Abstract

Fascioliasis is a plant- and waterborne zoonotic parasitic disease caused by two trematode species: (i) Fasciola hepatica in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania and (ii) F. gigantica, which is restricted to Africa and Asia. Fasciolid liver flukes infect mainly herbivores as ruminants, equids, and camelids but also omnivore mammals as humans and swine and are transmitted by freshwater Lymnaeidae snail vectors. Two phases may be distinguished in fasciolid evolution. The long predomestication period includes the F. gigantica origin in east-southern Africa around the mid-Miocene, the F. hepatica origin in the Near-Middle East of Asia around the latest Miocene to Early Pliocene, and their subsequent local spread. The short postdomestication period includes the worldwide spread by human-guided movements of animals in the last 12,000 years and the more recent transoceanic anthropogenic introductions of F. hepatica into the Americas and Oceania and of F. gigantica into several large islands of the Pacific with ships transporting livestock in the last 500 years. The routes and chronology of the spreading waves followed by both fasciolids into the five continents are redefined on the basis of recently generated knowledge of human-guided movements of domesticated hosts. No local, zonal, or regional situation showing disagreement with historical records was found, although in a few world zones the available knowledge is still insufficient. The anthropogenically accelerated evolution of fasciolids allows us to call them "peridomestic endoparasites." The multidisciplinary implications for crucial aspects of the disease should therefore lead the present baseline update to be taken into account in future research studies.

Keywords: Africa; Asia; F. gigantica spread in Africa and Asia; F. hepatica spread in Europe; Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica; Fasciola spread in the postdomestication period; camelids; domestic ruminants; equids; evolution in the predomestication period; fasciolid evolution; fasciolid origin and spread; geographical distribution; human and animal fascioliasis; human and animal movements; human-guided movements of domesticated hosts; hybrid intermediate fasciolids; initial steps and historical landmarks; livestock; livestock export/import; lymnaeid snail vectors; mammal reservoirs; mankind history; multidisciplinary repercussions; new research baseline; paleobiogeographical origins of fasciolids; pre- and postdomestication periods; swine; the Americas and Oceania; the Near East cradle; worldwide distribution.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fasciola hepatica*
  • Fasciola*
  • Fascioliasis* / epidemiology
  • Fascioliasis* / parasitology
  • Fascioliasis* / veterinary
  • Humans
  • Mammals
  • Middle East
  • Swine
  • Zoonoses / epidemiology