Os Xenartras e seus parasitos: revisão sistemática sobre agentes infecciosos em Xenartras no Brasil

Abstract

This systematic review provides a summary of some knowledge about the mammals of the Superorder Xenarthrans, important representatives of our Fauna whose origin is in South America, and about the parasites that affect them and that play the role of etiological agents of several zoonotic diseases. Parasites that are also important for the conservation and management of wild life and for the maintenance of good sanitary conditions of production animals. The relationship between Xenarthrans hosts and infectious agents was described from the selection of scientific publications resulting from research on sylvatic cycles of infectious agents in which mammals participate as hosts, whose cycles change as that human actions of land use advance in natural environments altering the functioning of ecosystems constitued by host, vectors and parasites. The consequences of environmental changes in these ecosystems can be seen in the occurrence of new hosts and new parasites in a new environment, which caracterizes a situation determined by Spillover. The parasite species belonging to the 5 taxonomic groups: bacteria, fungi, helminths, protozoa and viruses were gathered, quantified, mapped, and analyzed in their interactions with Xenarthrans that occur in Brazil. Protozoa were the most cited among the scientific publications. Over the period from 1970 to 2021, the period in which the publications were produced, there is a numerical increase in the number of parasites species found in the 13 species of Xenarthrans incluided in this review and wich where analyzed from Accumulation Curves of all species of parasites and those found in the 4 most cited Xenarthran species in the selected publications, Dasypus novemcinctus, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Tamandua tetradactyla and Euphractus sexcinctus. However, the more in-depth knowledge of the subject is limited because it is know that thediversity of parasites has not yet been well studied in Xenarthrans and involves a multidisciplinar effort. The Xenarthrans cited by the selected publications in this review are hosts of the sylvatic cycles of etiological agentes of 6 of the 13 diseases presente in Brazil listed as Neglected Diseases by the World Health Organization.They are, Chagas Disease, Leprosy, Leihsmaniasis, Leptospirosis, Ascariasis and Trichuridiasis. And, still of relevant importance in the scenario of zoonosis, the Xenarthrans species are hosts of Toxoplasma gondii, the agent of Toxoplasmosis, of the genus of bacteria Erlichia sp., the fungi Coccidioides sp., Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Brucella abortus among others and all of the etiological agentes circulate among wild animals, domestic animals and humans in endemic regions of Brazil.The scientific publications selected in Protected Areas, Zoos and Veterinary Hospitals indicate locations that are important sources of research and knowledge of potential disease-causing parasites in each species can be valuable tools to reduce the risk of diseases in these places and help in the monitoring and epidemiological surveillance of neglected, emerging diseases and interest in Conservation.