Introduction
Nematode worms of the genera Ascaris and Trichuris are the most prevalent helminth infections in humans and pigs worldwide (Holland & Boes, Reference Holland, Boes, Holland and Kennedy2002). In both cases, the worms that infect pigs and humans are closely related and difficult to distinguish morphologically owing to a lack of discrete characters. The life cycle is direct and worms do not multiply directly within the definitive host. In order to complete the life cycle for both genera, oral ingestion of faecally excreted ova is required but eggs are only infectious after a period of environmental maturation. This life cycle makes it possible for worms of porcine origin to infect humans and (possibly) vice versa (Crompton, Reference Crompton2001).
In order to implement appropriate control programmes for Ascaris and Trichuris in both hosts and to identify the source of the infection, a greater understanding of the transmission dynamics and host specificity of the parasites is needed. There has been an ongoing debate in the literature as to whether Ascaris and Trichuris are zoonotic infections and the precise levels of actual cross-over. Here, we review briefly the relationship between Ascaris and Trichuris in humans and pigs, with special focus on recent evidence concerning the zoonotic potential of these parasites.
Burden of infection
An estimated 1.2 billion humans are infected with A. lumbricoides and 600–800 million with T. trichiura, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia, although sporadic cases are reported in developed countries (Chan, Reference Chan1997; De Silva et al., Reference De Silva, Brooker, Hotez, Montresor, Engels and Savioli2003; Hotez et al., Reference Hotez, Brindley, Bethony, King, Pearce and Jacobson2008). Human infections are associated with diarrhoea, malnutrition, impaired growth and development, and can lead to death (De Silva et al., Reference De Silva, Chan and Bundy1997; Bethony et al., Reference Bethony, Brooker, Albonico, Geiger, Loukas, Diemert and Hotez2006; Hall et al., Reference Hall, Hewitt, Tuffrey and de Silva2008; Dold & Holland, Reference Dold and Holland2011). The burden of these two helminth infections has been estimated at around 17 million disability-adjusted life years (DALY), which is half the estimate for malaria (Chan, Reference Chan1997), but there are substantial difficulties in generating DALY estimates due to the non-specific and insidious nature of much of the morbidity associated with intestinal helminth infections and uncertainty about the numbers of individuals infected (Brooker, Reference Brooker2010).
According to farming practices, A. suum and T. suis are present worldwide in pigs but their distributions are highly influenced by host environment (including management practices and hygiene) and geographical region (reviewed by Nansen & Roepstorff, Reference Nansen and Roepstorff1999). In the Nordic countries, the mean prevalence of A. suum is 21.5% in fatteners and 11.3% in sows (Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Nilsson, Oksanen, Gjerde, Richter, Ortenberg, Christensson, Martinsson, Bartlett, Nansen, Eriksen, Helle, Nikander and Larsen1998), whereas T. suis is found sporadically under these indoor conditions (Roepstorff & Jorsal, Reference Roepstorff and Jorsal1989; Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Nilsson, Oksanen, Gjerde, Richter, Ortenberg, Christensson, Martinsson, Bartlett, Nansen, Eriksen, Helle, Nikander and Larsen1998). In contrast, free range or organic systems seem to favour higher prevalences as 9 out of 10 outdoor (organic) farms were positive for T. suis in Denmark and 37.5% were positive in The Netherlands (Carstensen et al., Reference Carstensen, Vaarst and Roepstorff2002; Eijck & Borgsteede, Reference Eijck and Borgsteede2005). Likewise, in rural communities in China and Uganda prevalences of around 16% were reported for T. suis and 40% for A. suum (Boes et al., Reference Boes, Willingham, Fuhui, Hu, Eriksen, Nansen and Stewart2000; Nissen et al., Reference Nissen, Poulsen, Nejsum, Olsen, Roepstorff, Rubaire-Akiiki and Thamsborg2011).
Focus on ascariasis
Biology
Ingested infective Ascaris eggs hatch in the intestine, releasing L3 larvae which undertake a hepato-tracheal migration to end up in the small intestine where they mature. Adult males and females mate and eggs can be found in the faeces around 7 weeks after infection (e.g. Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Eriksen, Slotved and Nansen1997).
Ascaris has an enormous reproductive potential and it has been estimated that a single female may produce more than 1 million eggs per day (Kelley & Smith, Reference Kelley and Smith1956; Olsen et al., Reference Olsen, Kelley and Sen1958). This suggests that a single infected host may rapidly contaminate the environment, or that contamination might take place if faecal matter is used as fertilizer. The resistant nature of the eggs adds to this problem. Ascaris eggs have been shown to remain viable in the soil for at least 6 years (Muller, Reference Muller1953) and up to 9 years (Krasnonos, Reference Krasnonos1978; Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Mejer, Nejsum and Thamsborg2011), resulting in a long-lasting health risk.
Diagnosis
Microscopic detection of eggs in faecal samples remains the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosis, requiring specialized equipment and training, which is often lacking in developing countries. Most larvae are expelled from pig (and probably also human) hosts at an early stage, when they are too small to be observed by the naked eye (Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Eriksen, Slotved and Nansen1997; Nejsum et al., Reference Nejsum, Thamsborg, Petersen, Kringel, Fredholm and Roepstorff2009). Macroscopic Ascaris worms in faeces are seen only in a minority of cases. Thus diagnosis of infection is poor and prevalence is probably underestimated in medical and veterinary practice. A serological study has shown that 8% of Dutch primary schoolchildren and 7% of Swedish adults have antibodies to Ascaris even though ascariasis was rare (Van Knapen et al., Reference Van Knapen, Buijs, Kortbeek and Ljungstrom1992). A similar prevalence (7%) has more recently been observed in 4-year-old children (n = 629) living in The Netherlands (Pinelli et al., Reference Pinelli, Willers, Hoek, Smit, Kortbeek, Hoekstra, de Jongste, van Knapen, Postma, Kerkhof, Aalberse, van der Giessen and Brunekreef2009), suggesting no change in Ascaris exposure over the years (Pinelli et al., Reference Pinelli, Herremans, Harms, Hoek and Kortbeek2011). In a recent study from The Netherlands, 2838 serum samples were collected over a 12-year period from patients suspected to have visceral or ocular larva migrans and were analysed for the presence of Ascaris antibodies (Pinelli et al., Reference Pinelli, Herremans, Harms, Hoek and Kortbeek2011). An average prevalence of 33% was found, with the lowest (19%) in the youngest age group (0–10 years) and the highest (50%) in the oldest age group (70+ years). Interestingly, in those patients suspected of visceral larva migrans the prevalence was four times higher for Ascaris than for Toxocara. Even though the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay cannot discriminate between A. suum and A. lumbricoides infections, these studies suggest that Ascaris in humans is more common in the developed world than previously thought, and the high prevalence indicates that at least some cases might be of pig origin.
Zoonotic ascariasis
Ascaris infection is generally thought to be uncommon in humans in developed countries and associated with previous residence in, or travel to, endemic areas (Maguire, Reference Maguire, Mandell, Bennett and Dolin2005) or due to foodborne infection (Räisänen et al., Reference Räisänen, Ruuskanen and Nyman1985). However, sporadic cases of human ascariasis in areas with low incidence have been reported and have been explained by working with infective A. suum eggs or contact with pig manure (Jaskoski, Reference Jaskoski1961; Phillipson & Race, Reference Phillipson and Race1967; Crewe & Smith, Reference Crewe and Smith1971; Lord & Bullock, Reference Lord and Bullock1982). For example, in Denmark, pig manure was used as fertilizer in the vegetable gardens of a kindergarten and a small commune. In both cases, children subsequently expelled large adult Ascaris and analysis of soil samples revealed numerous infective eggs (Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Mejer, Nejsum and Thamsborg2011). These cases, together with the ELISA results discussed above (Van Knapen et al., Reference Van Knapen, Buijs, Kortbeek and Ljungstrom1992; Pinelli et al., Reference Pinelli, Willers, Hoek, Smit, Kortbeek, Hoekstra, de Jongste, van Knapen, Postma, Kerkhof, Aalberse, van der Giessen and Brunekreef2009, Reference Pinelli, Herremans, Harms, Hoek and Kortbeek2011), suggest that pig Ascaris may cause zoonotic infections.
The taxonomic status and relationship between Ascaris in pigs and humans have been explored for decades. Both types of worms were shown to be capable of cross-infection (Takata, Reference Takata1951; Galvin, Reference Galvin1968) but these studies also indicated that Ascaris is more adapted to its ‘appropriate’ host, implying that some speciation between pig and human worms has taken place. Morphological studies revealed subtle differences in denticle morphology and lip shape between Ascaris worms from the two hosts (Sprent, Reference Sprent1952; Ansel & Thibaut, Reference Ansel and Thibaut1973; Maung, Reference Maung1973). Subsequently, immunological and biochemical methods were applied to the problem (Kennedy et al., Reference Kennedy, Qureshi, Haswell-Elkins and Elkins1987; Nadler, Reference Nadler1987; Hawley & Peanasky, Reference Hawley and Peanasky1992). More recently Abebe et al. (Reference Abebe, Tsuji, Kasuga-Aoki, Miyoshi, Isobe, Arakawa, Matsumoto and Yoshihara2002b) used two-dimensional electrophoresis to identify species-specific proteins in extracts from adult worms from pig and human hosts. Using the same technique on lung-stage larvae, one major protein specific for each of the two parasites was detected (Abebe et al., Reference Abebe, Tsuji, Kasuga-Aoki, Miyoshi, Isobe, Arakawa, Matsumoto and Yoshihara2002a). However, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from these studies, as either the methods used did not have high-enough resolution to detect differences between Ascaris from the two hosts, or sympatric worms were not compared. Thus, the differences detected could be due to geographical and/or intrinsic variability in the Ascaris populations and not related to host specificity.
Molecular characterization of Ascaris
Sympatric areas in developing countries
Anderson et al. (Reference Anderson, Romero-Abal and Jaenike1993) were the first to apply molecular methods (in this case polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-linked restriction fragment length polymorphism, PCR-RFLP) to sympatric Ascaris populations in order to explore transmission cycles/epidemiology in an area where humans and pigs lived in close proximity. This work was later supplemented with more worms (n = 265) and more detailed genetic analysis. It was concluded that Ascaris in humans and pigs in Guatemala represented two different reproductive populations with little or no gene flow between them, implying that A. suum is not a zoonosis in this region (Anderson et al., Reference Anderson, Romero-Abal and Jaenike1993; Anderson & Jaenike, Reference Anderson and Jaenike1997). Application of a similar molecular approach to 115 sympatric worms obtained from humans and pigs in China (Peng et al., Reference Peng, Anderson, Zhou and Kennedy1998) led to an analogous conclusion. This was later confirmed by the use of single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) to detect nucleotide variation in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) genes of 486 and 329 worms from humans and pigs, respectively, collected from six provinces in China (Peng et al., Reference Peng, Yuan, Zhou, Hu, El Osta and Gasser2003, Reference Peng, Yuan, Hu, Zhou and Gasser2005). Even though no fixed genetic differences were identified (i.e. diagnostic markers) between worms from the two hosts in any of the above-mentioned studies, the data suggest that A. lumbricoides and A. suum are different species based on the criterion of reproductive isolation in sympatry (Mayr, Reference Mayr1963).
More recently, detailed genetic analysis (23 microsatellite loci) identified 4 and 7% of worms from China and Guatemala, respectively, as being hybrids (Criscione et al., Reference Criscione, Anderson, Sudimack, Peng, Jha, Williams-Blangero and Anderson2007), suggesting that cross-infections and interbreeding can take place between the pig and human worm populations in areas where humans and pigs live in close proximity. Even though this study only included a limited number of worms (n = 129), more research applying fine-scale genetic analysis to sympatric Ascaris populations is warranted in order to illuminate the zoonotic potential of A. suum in these settings. It is possible that previous studies might simply have lacked power to detect cross-transmission and hybridization due to the use of single/few markers.
Developed world
Molecular evidence for zoonotic Ascaris infections was first reported in North America by Anderson (Reference Anderson1995), using PCR-RFLP on the ITS region, and identified ten worms from nine patients as pig worms. Nejsum et al. (Reference Nejsum, Parker, Frydenberg, Roepstorff, Boes, Haque, Astrup, Prag and Sørensen2005) used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to genetically compare worms obtained from humans in Denmark with Ascaris from the two hosts from worldwide locations. They concluded that all examined Danish human worms (32) were due to cross-infections from pig. This route of transmission has also been described in the UK using cox1 sequencing and PCR-RFLP (Bendall et al., Reference Bendall, Barlow, Betson, Stothard and Nejsum2011). Here all 11 human UK worms were found to have genetic profiles resembling pig worms when compared with Ascaris obtained from humans (n = 20) and pigs (n = 35) from several geographical locations. The molecular results were supported by epidemiological evidence for both the UK and Denmark, since use of pig manure as a fertilizer in vegetable gardens, living in the countryside or close to pig farms, and being under 5 years of age were found to be risk factors for ascariasis (Nejsum et al., Reference Nejsum, Parker, Frydenberg, Roepstorff, Boes, Haque, Astrup, Prag and Sørensen2005; Bendall et al., Reference Bendall, Barlow, Betson, Stothard and Nejsum2011). These studies suggest that cross-infections from pigs are the most likely source of the infection in industrialized parts of the world. However, this may not always be the case since Arizono et al. (Reference Arizono, Yoshimura, Tohzaka, Yamada, Tegoshi, Onishi and Uchikawa2010) found that humans in Japan most likely were infected with both A. lumbricoides and A. suum. Thus molecular methods supplemented with epidemiology are needed for proper identification of the source of infection.
The close phylogeny between Ascaris in humans and pigs may reflect the complex evolutionary history of Ascaris (Loreille & Bouchet, Reference Loreille and Bouchet2003) and may be due to multiple host colonization events, as suggested by Criscione et al. (Reference Criscione, Anderson, Sudimack, Peng, Jha, Williams-Blangero and Anderson2007) who found that worms assort first by geography (Nepal, China and Guatemala) and then by host origin. Sequence analysis of the cox1 gene (mitochondrial) indicates that Ascaris does not assort into two different monophyletic groups based on host origin, but instead splits into three or more groups, all but one of which include worms from both hosts (Nejsum et al., Reference Nejsum, Bertelsen, Betson, Stothard and Murrell2010; Betson et al., Reference Betson, Halstead, Nejsum, Imison, Khamis, Sousa-Figueiredo, Rollinson and Stothard2011; Zhou et al., Reference Zhou, Li, Yuan, Hu and Peng2011). This likewise suggests a complex evolutionary history and might be the reason why a single diagnostic marker is presently hard or impossible to find, which is further supported by the recent published complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of A. suum and A. lumbricoides (Liu et al., Reference Liu, Wu, Song, Wei, Xu, Lin, Zhao, Huang and Zhu2012a).
Ascaris infections in other animals
Ascariasis has also been detected in chimpanzees in Copenhagen Zoo and a permanent transmission cycle appears to have been established there (Nejsum et al., Reference Nejsum, Bertelsen, Betson, Stothard and Murrell2010). Interestingly, molecular analysis showed that the worms expelled by the chimpanzees mainly clustered phylogenetically with Ascaris from pigs rather than Ascaris from humans. The fact that A. suum is able to establish in primates may have implications for human infection and could serve as a model. Worms obtained from lambs that had been grazing on pastures that previously had been used for A. suum infection studies in pigs were AFLP genotyped and found to be of pig origin (Nejsum, unpublished data). Other studies also report on Ascaris in lambs with affected livers (Sauvageau & Frechette, Reference Sauvageau and Frechette1980) and lungs (Clark et al., Reference Clark, Vondewitz and Acompanado1989) due to migrating worms, all suspected to be of pig origin, and patent infections have been obtained after experimental A. suum infection (Pedersen et al., Reference Pedersen, Monrad, Henriksen, Bindseil, Nielsen, Jensen and Knold1992). Likewise, calves have repeatedly been reported to be infected with Ascaris from pigs (McCraw & Lautenslager, Reference McCraw and Lautenslager1971; Roneus & Christensson, Reference Roneus and Christensson1977) and the above-mentioned studies provide further evidence that A. suum is not specific in its host preference.
Focus on trichuriasis
Biology
Infective Trichuris eggs hatch in the intestine releasing L1 larvae which enter the crypts of Lieberkühn in the caecum and upper part of colon (Beer, Reference Beer1973). The larvae grow and undergo four moults and, as adults, the thick posterior ends are free in the lumen whereas the anterior part is attached and forms a tunnel within the epithelium (Tilney et al., Reference Tilney, Connelly, Guild, Vranich and Artis2005). Eggs can be found in the faeces 7 weeks after infection (e.g. Kringel & Roepstorff, Reference Kringel and Roepstorff2006). A Trichuris female may produce 2–20,000 eggs/day (Bundy & Cooper, Reference Bundy and Cooper1989). In pigs, Pedersen & Saeed (Reference Pedersen and Saeed2000) have estimated a ratio between faecal egg count (eggs/g) and number of worms to be around 10, where similar estimates are ~2–400 in humans (Bundy & Cooper, Reference Bundy and Cooper1989). Once excreted T. suis ova remain viable for at least 11 years (Hill, Reference Hill1957; Burden et al., Reference Burden, Hammet and Brookes1987).
In contrast to Ascaris the relationship between Trichuris in humans and pigs has not been given much attention, suggesting that their taxonomic status is settled (i.e. T. trichiura in humans and T. suis in pigs). This, together with close similarity in egg morphology, which means that cases of cross-infections are undetected by standard methods, might be the reason why the zoonotic potential of T. suis has been ignored to date. In contrast, the larger eggs of the dog whipworm, T. vulpis are more easily identified and several cases of humans cross-infected by T. vulpis have been described, even though most of these cases have not been properly evaluated (reviewed by Traversa, Reference Traversa2011). Recently Areekul et al. (Reference Areekul, Putaporntip, Pattanawong, Sitthicharoenchai and Jongwutiwes2010) used molecular methods and found that 11% of the Trichuris-positive children in Thailand had T. vulpis eggs in their faeces, suggesting that this parasite should be considered a zoonosis in this area. Trichuris suis is a more obvious candidate than T. vulpis since it is phylogenetically more closely related to T. trichiura (e.g. Areekul et al., Reference Areekul, Putaporntip, Pattanawong, Sitthicharoenchai and Jongwutiwes2010); yet it has received very little attention to date. Below we highlight some of the studies on the relationship between Trichuris in humans and pigs in order to shed light on the taxonomic status of these parasites and the zoonotic potential of T. suis.
It has proven difficult or impossible to discriminate between Trichuris from human or pig hosts by morphology, whether examining adult worms, larvae or eggs (Beer, Reference Beer1976; Soulsby, Reference Soulsby1982). Even though a range of different morphometric characters has been measured, most show overlapping ranges (Beer, Reference Beer1976; Ooi et al., Reference Ooi, Tenora, Itoh and Kamiya1993; Spakulova, Reference Spakulova1994; Cutillas et al., Reference Cutillas, Callejon, de Rojas, Tewes, Ubeda, Ariza and Guevara2009). Although spicule length seemed to hold the most promise as a discriminating characteristic, contrasting results have been reported (Spakulova, Reference Spakulova1994; Cutillas et al., Reference Cutillas, Callejon, de Rojas, Tewes, Ubeda, Ariza and Guevara2009). This suggests that morphometric measures should be interpreted with care, since the phenotype of the worm may be shaped by host species, e.g. as a reflection of differences in host physiology. In this way, Cutillas et al. (Reference Cutillas, Callejon, de Rojas, Tewes, Ubeda, Ariza and Guevara2009) found the opposite trend with respect to worm size and spicule length to Spakulova (Reference Spakulova1994) and Nissen et al. (Reference Nissen, Al-Jubury, Hansen, Olsen, Christensen, Thamsborg and Nejsum2012). Likewise, Knight (Reference Knight1984) found that anterior length of T. ovis was influenced by its development in lambs, goats or calves. Of course, if sympatric material is not included, differences might simply reflect geographic variation and not be related to host species.
Beer (Reference Beer1976) has reported on two patent T. suis infections in humans, with egg excretion 40 and 60 days postinfection, respectively. These eggs were subsequently embryonated and used to produce patent infections in pigs. In a human receiving T. suis egg therapy, worms have also been observed (Kradin et al., Reference Kradin, Badizadegan, Auluck, Korzenik and Lauwers2006) but other means of infection could not be ruled out. Even though adult worms might develop only exceptionally in these cases, the beneficial immuno-modulatory effects with this kind of egg therapy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease or other immune-related disorders suggest that T. suis worms can establish, at least temporarily, in humans (e.g. Summers et al., Reference Summers, Elliott, Urban, Thompson and Weinstock2005). These findings may not, however, be applicable in ‘natural’ settings. Trichuris trichiura can be established in pigs but, so far, most of the worms do not persist (Beer, Reference Beer1976). Overall, these reports show that humans can become cross-infected with T. suis under experimental conditions, but also indicate that T. suis and T. trichiura are more adapted to their ‘appropriate’ hosts.
Molecular characterization of Trichuris
Cuttilas et al. (Reference Cutillas, Callejon, de Rojas, Tewes, Ubeda, Ariza and Guevara2009) have performed sequence analysis of the ITS-2 region of Trichuris eggs from non-human primates (Colobus guereza kikuyensis and Nomascus gabriellae) and worms from pigs in Spain. These data suggested that Trichuris in the two hosts belonged to two different species, but it is not clear whether the monkeys in the zoo were infected with T. trichiura or another trichurid. Using a similar sequence analysis of the ITS-2 region followed by PCR-RFLP on sympatric worm material from Uganda, Nissen et al. (Reference Nissen, Al-Jubury, Hansen, Olsen, Christensen, Thamsborg and Nejsum2012) showed that worms from the two hosts primarily belonged to two different populations (i.e. are two different species) but also suggested that 3 out of 29 (10%) human worms were of pig origin. This study examined a limited number of worms and further studies on the transmission dynamics of Trichuris are needed to unravel the zoonotic potential of T. suis and to further develop molecular tools that can be used to trace the source of the infection.
Some future perspectives
For both Ascaris and Trichuris the extent to which pig-associated and human-associated worms represent different species is difficult to assess because conventional morphological or biometric criteria does not seem to be useful for differentiation between worms in the two hosts. Only molecular methods have shown the ability to discriminate between these closely related parasites and, even here, great caution should be exercised not to reach premature conclusions. Ideally, both nuclear and mitochondrial markers should be used in molecular characterization (Anderson, Reference Anderson2001) or at least several multilocus markers such as microsatellites, also with a general ‘global’ appraisal of the diversity in such markers before more focused application and interpretation in selected epidemiological settings. As the biodiversity of worms may not be evenly partitioned across the transmission landscape, according to phylogeographic processes, and the monophyly of ‘species’ as we recognize them today is contentious, some recourse to inspection of genetic variation in other related Ascaridid worms is needed. It may well be that either species is a local chimera of polyphyletic origins. The recent publication of the A. suum genome may lead to identification of further markers that can be used to distinguish between pig-associated and human-associated worms (Jex et al., Reference Jex, Liu, Li, Young, Hall, Li, Yang, Zeng, Xu, Xiong, Chen, Wu, Zhang, Fang, Kang, Anderson, Harris, Campbell, Vlaminck, Wang, Cantacessi, Schwarz, Ranganathan, Geldhof, Nejsum, Sternberg, Yang, Wang, Wang and Gasser2011).
It seems that A. suum is a zoonotic infection in developed countries, since expelled worms from humans in this area of the world are mainly of pig origin, based on genetic characterization of the worms as reviewed above, although some cases of ascariasis in this region of the world might be ‘imported’ once in a while (i.e. A. lumbricoides). In contrast, in developing countries most studies suggest that cross-infections are a very rare event, except for recent work by Criscione et al. (Reference Criscione, Anderson, Sudimack, Peng, Jha, Williams-Blangero and Anderson2007). This discrepancy could reflect different transmission routes in different populations, but is more likely related to the methodology used, or more subtle local geographical structuring of parasite populations. The use of 23 microsatellite markers by Criscione et al. (Reference Criscione, Anderson, Sudimack, Peng, Jha, Williams-Blangero and Anderson2007) allows more fine-scale genetic mapping, and future molecular studies on sympatric Ascaris should include the use of microsatellite markers.
Since expulsion of adult worms is a very poor indicator of the actual A. suum exposure in the developed part of the world, the analysis of serum samples, as conducted in The Netherlands (Pinelli et al., Reference Pinelli, Willers, Hoek, Smit, Kortbeek, Hoekstra, de Jongste, van Knapen, Postma, Kerkhof, Aalberse, van der Giessen and Brunekreef2009), is needed in order to estimate how many are exposed to infective eggs. However, identification of specific molecules that can be used in an ELISA for unequivocal discrimination of Ascaris and Toxocara infections is needed. Here the use of recombinant antigens may be very useful and, with the advancement of transcriptomics, this technology could help us to identify molecules that would ideally allow us to differentiate not only between Ascaris and Toxocara but also between T. canis and T. cati, with the latter most often ignored as a zoonosis (Fisher, Reference Fisher2003; Lee et al., Reference Lee, Schantz, Kazacos, Montgomery and Bowman2010), and at some stage it might even be possible to differentiate between A. suum and A. lumbricoides on the basis of antigenicity.
The migratory pattern of A. suum in humans is, for obvious reasons, poorly understood. For example, does A. suum typically cause visceral larva migrans, i.e. migration into organs other than the liver or lungs, as is the case for Toxocara? It has been described to cause encephalopathy (Inatomi et al., Reference Inatomi, Murakami, Tokunaga, Ishiwata, Nawa and Uchino1999) but is this the exception rather than the rule? It is possible that A. suum migrates normally in the human host but that the main difference in comparison with A. lumbricoides is reduced ability to establish in the small intestine, so it is expelled, as is the fate for most larvae after the hepato-tracheal migration in the pig host (Roepstorff et al., Reference Roepstorff, Eriksen, Slotved and Nansen1997). More work is required to determine the range of pathological effects caused by A. suum infection in humans.
Since it is most likely that expelled T. suis from humans in developed parts of the world will pass undetected, an estimation of the prevalence is only possible by detecting specific antibodies in serum. But as the prevalence of T. suis in most conventional pig production systems is much lower compared to that of A. suum, the potential zoonotic problem is not so big for this parasite in this region of the world. It could, however, be very interesting to explore, and might be relevant due to the beneficial immuno-modulating property of T. suis in humans, as has been the case in The Netherlands where Pinelli et al. (Reference Pinelli, Willers, Hoek, Smit, Kortbeek, Hoekstra, de Jongste, van Knapen, Postma, Kerkhof, Aalberse, van der Giessen and Brunekreef2009) tested for an association between human seropositivity for Ascaris antibodies and allergy.
In sympatric areas there is an urgent need to investigate the transmission dynamics of Trichuris in humans and pigs and to explore the zoonotic potential of T. suis. However, this might not be an easy task as it is notoriously difficult to expel and collect T. trichiura from humans (Olsen et al., Reference Olsen, Namwanje, Nejsum, Roepstorff and Thamsborg2009). Alternatively, eggs from faeces can be used for genotyping. If this approach is used, at least two things need to be borne in mind. First, eggs passed in faeces do not necessarily correspond to worms in the host but might be ingested eggs just passively passing through the host. Second, even if a human is cross-infected with T. suis, this might not lead to eggs, due to a mating barrier or the possibility that eggs of T. suis might be ‘outnumbered’ by T. trichiura and therefore not detected by the method. The impending publication of the human and pig Trichuris mitochondrial genome sequences could provide important insights into the relationship between T. trichiura and T. suis (Liu et al., Reference Liu, Gasser, Su, Nejsum, Wei, Peng, Lin, Li and Zhu2012b).
Conclusion
Though the debate still continues as to whether Ascaris in pigs and humans represents the same or two distinct species, it is clear that A. suum is indeed a zoonosis in developed countries, and maybe also to some degree in developing countries. This implies that in communities where access to pig manure or bedding material is common, or pig manure is used as fertilizer, simple public health measures should be encouraged, including thorough handwashing with soap (particularly for children) and rinsing and cooking of vegetables. The data on the zoonotic potential of Trichuris is far sparser and further research is required to determine whether T. suis presents a risk to human health in the developed and developing world. With greater disease surveillance and molecular epidemiological investigations the extent of zoonotic transmission could soon be quantified.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the British Society for Parasitology for sponsoring this short symposium on zoonotic infections. We especially thank Professor John Lewis for assistance in redaction of this manuscript.
