The spreading of parasites by human migratory activities

2020/08/30 by Dietmar Steverding · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Archaeology #Biological dispersal #Biology #Colonization #Demography #Ecology #Emigration #Geography #Human migration #Immigration #Immunology #Malaria #Mass migration #Parasite Biology and Host Interactions #Parasite hosting #Parasites and Host Interactions #Plasmodium (life cycle) #Plasmodium falciparum #Plasmodium vivax #Population #Zoonotic diseases and public health

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/21505594.2020.1809963

openalex publication_date 2020/08/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The global spread of parasites is unquestionably linked with human activities. Migration in all its different forms played a major role in the introduction of parasites into new areas. In ancient times, mass migrations were the main causes for the spread of parasites while in the recent past and present, emigration, immigration, displacement, external and internal migration, and labor migration were the reasons for the dispersal of parasites. With the advent of seagoing ships, long-distance trading became another important mode of spreading parasites. This review summarizes the spread of parasites using notable examples. In addition, the different hypotheses explaining the arrival of Plasmodium vivax and soil-transmitted helminths in pre-Columbian America are also discussed.

Citations

• Ancylostoma duodenale and the Saint Gothard anaemia.
• Was malaria present in the Amazon before the European conquest? Available evidence and future research agenda
• The History of Dengue Outbreaks in the Americas
• Multiple independent introductions of Plasmodium falciparum in South America
• The history of Chagas disease
• Recent evolutionary history of American Onchocerca volvulus, based on analysis of a tandemly repeated DNA sequence family.
• Out of Africa: origins and evolution of the human malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax
• Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species

Cited by

• History of West Africa [wikipedia]

Related

• Parasitology of the twenty-first century: are we moving in the right direction?
• Hosts and parasites as aliens
• Paleoparasitological analysis of a 15th–16th c. CE latrine from the merchant quarter of Bruges, Belgium: Evidence for local and exotic parasite infections
• The history of Chagas disease
• Human parasites in the Roman World: health consequences of conquering an empire