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Stealth Parasites: The Under Appreciated Burden of Parasitic Zoonoses in North America

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North American Parasitic Zoonoses

Part of the book series: World Class Parasites ((WCPA,volume 6))

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Abstract

It has been estimated that 80 percent of all described human infections are caused by agents which are shared by or naturally transmitted between other vertebrate animals and humans (Schwabe, 1984). These naturally transmissible infections are called zoonoses. Many of the most important human diseases worldwide are zoonoses, as are most of the emerging infections recognized in the past half-century. Of nine infectious epidemic diseases that WHO considers “either new or volatile or pose an important public health threat”, five have known animal reservoirs (WHO, 2000). A recent analysis ascribes 73 percent of human emerging infectious diseases to zoonotic pathogens (Taylor and Woolhouse, 2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    J. L. Gauthier

  2. Department of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA

    Anuj Gupta & Peter Hotez

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  1. J. L. Gauthier
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  2. Anuj Gupta
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  3. Peter Hotez
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, USA

    Dennis J. Richardson

  2. Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, Connecticut, USA

    Peter J. Krause

  3. University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA

    Peter J. Krause

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Gauthier, J.L., Gupta, A., Hotez, P. (2003). Stealth Parasites: The Under Appreciated Burden of Parasitic Zoonoses in North America. In: Richardson, D.J., Krause, P.J. (eds) North American Parasitic Zoonoses. World Class Parasites, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1123-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1123-6_1

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