Water as a Potential Transmission Route of Infection with Tapeworms

One of the most important issues related to public health is parasitic diseases. Many diseases are zoonotic, emerging or re-emerging zoonoses, prevalent and difficult to control [1]. Some of these diseases such as leishmaniasis, malaria, Chagas disease and so on are vectorborne causing by pathogens transmitted by arthropods [2-4]. Some others are foodor water-borne so that contaminated food or water may transmit and spread a pathogenic agent or a disease [5]. Water can be considered as a major source of human infection either directly or by indirect contamination via foods or vegetables prepared from contaminated water [6]. Infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites including protozoa, nematodes, trematodes or flukes, cestodes or tapeworms are the main contaminant agents for drinking water that should be eliminated [3]. One category of waterborne diseases includes those caused by the contamination of the drinking water by human or animal feces infected with the etiological agents of such diseases [7]. Helminthiases represent important public health problems with great economic impact in tropical and subtropical countries [1]. Nematodes include ascarids, pinworms, hookworms, strongylids, capillarids, flukes such as schistosomes and liver flukes, and tapeworms like the beef and pork tapeworms and cystic and alveolar hydatid ones are examples of waterborne parasitic diseases [3,5,8]. Waterborne zoonotic helminths may be spread directly from animals to humans or humans to animals through water that is either ingested or that consists of forms with ability of skin penetration [1]. The majority of waterborne diseases of parasitic origin are related to poverty [1,5]). Increase in population throughout the world, poor sanitary conditions, and inability to provide safe drinking water have led to increased importance of water-borne infections particularly those of zoonotic diseases [9]. These risk factors can facilitate disease transmission among animals and humans [9,10]. The waterborne helminthic diseases may be transmitted by fecal-contaminated water (cysticercosis and hydatid disease) or be aquatic snail-mediated (fascioliasis, schistosomiasis and cercarial dermatitis) or copepodmediated (gnathostomiasis) [1,11].