The role of wild canids and felids in spreading parasites to dogs and cats in Europe. Part II: Helminths and arthropods

Over the last few decades, ecological factors, combined with everchanging landscapes mainly linked tohuman activities (e.g. encroachment and tourism) have contributed to modifications in the transmissionof parasitic diseases from domestic to wildlife carnivores and vice versa. In the first of this two-partreview article, we have provided an account of diseases caused by protozoan parasites characterised bya two-way transmission route between domestic and wild carnivore species. In this second and finalpart, we focus our attention on parasitic diseases caused by helminth and arthropod parasites sharedbetween domestic and wild canids and felids in Europe. While a complete understanding of the biology,ecology and epidemiology of these parasites is particularly challenging to achieve, especially given thecomplexity of the environments in which these diseases perpetuate, advancements in current knowledgeof transmission routes is crucial to provide policy-makers with clear indications on strategies to reducethe impact of these diseases on changing ecosystems.© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.1. Helminths and arthropods of wild and domesticcarnivores: a complex scenarioWith a few exceptions in some areas, knowledge of the ecol-ogy and epidemiology of helminths and arthropods shared by wildand domestic carnivores in Europe is limited. One of the excep-tions is represented by the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis,the causative agent of zoonotic alveolar echinococcosis, for which∗Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 80 4679839; fax: +39 80 4679839.E-mail address: domenico.otranto@uniba.it (D. Otranto).extensive data on its the ecology in rural and urban habitats is avail-able for central Europe (Deplazes et al., 2004; Hegglin et al., 2015;Raoul et al., 2015). In addition, like protozoans, parasitic helminthsare also characterised by complex life cycles, often involvinga range of intermediate (e.g. Aelurostrongylus, Troglostrongylus,Angiostrongylus and Opisthorchis) and paratenic hosts (i.e. Tox-ocara), which makes the identification of potential hazards ofcross-transmission between wild and domestic carnivores and viceversa particularly challenging. This scenario is further complicatedby the plague represented by the illegal trade of wildlife species intoEurope (often carrying parasites) (Davidson et al., 2013) which, cou-pled with the ever-increasing human and pet travel, represents ahttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2015.04.0200304-4017/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.