Table 1.

Epidemiologic aspects, route for transmission, and methods used for the definitive diagnosis of the parasitic diseases

Disease	Parasite	Epidemiology	Geographic distribution	1 Hosts/vectors 2 Transmission	Final diagnosis (routinely used method)
Cystic echinococcosis(c) [3–6]	E. granulosus(a)	2–404/10,000	High prevalence in Mediterranean regions, southern and central parts of Russia, central Asia, China, Australia, South America and Africa	1 Definitive hosts (dogs and foxes) Intermediate hosts (sheep and human) 2 Ingestion of eggs	- Imaging based (primarily ultrasound findings) - Serologic assay - Aspiration of cyst content during imaging guided intervention
	E. multilocularis	0.2–3400/100,000	Asia, Central Europe and the northern parts of Europe, and North America
	E. oligarthrus	Very rare, 106 human cases	Central and South America
	E. vogeli
Fascioliasis(c) [3, 7]	F. hepatica(a)	0.9–6.1%	Worldwide, high prevalence in Europe and America	1 Intermediate hosts (Freshwater snails) Definitive hosts (herbivorous mammals, including humans) 2 Ingestion of watercress or contaminated water containing encysted larva	- Stool examination - Serologic assay
	F. gigantica		Tropical areas of Asia and Africa
Ascariasis(c) [3, 8]	Ascaris lumbricoides	8.8–22.3%	Asia, Africa, and South America	1 No intermediate host Humans are the only definitive hosts 2 Ingestion of fecally contaminated food	Stool examination
Toxocariasis(c) [9]	T. canis(a)	0.7–15%	Worldwide	1 Intermediate hosts (rabbit, lamb, fowl) Definitive hosts (domestic dogs and cats). Humans are accidentally infected intermediate hosts 2 Ingestion of eggs from contaminated foods	Serologic assay
	T. cati
Intestinal taeniasis(c) [10–12]	T. saginata	0.7–4.9%	Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and Latin America	1 Intermediate hosts (pigs for T. solium, cattle for T. saginata) Definitive hosts (Humans are the only definitive hosts) 2 Ingestion of larvae for taeniasis and ingestion of eggs for cysticercosis	Stool examination
	T. solium		Worldwide; especially in Mexico, Latin America, West Africa, Russia, India, Manchuria, and Southeast Asia
	T. asiatica		Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and China
Amoebiasis(c) [13]	E. histolytica(b)	5–42%	Worldwide. Endemic in developing parts of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia	1 Humans are the principal host and reservoir 2 Ingestion of the cyst from fecally contaminated food or water	- Stool examination - The real-time PCR (to identify E. histolytica)
	E. dispar(a)
	E. moshkovskii
Malaria(c) [14, 15]	P. falciparum(b)	5.2–75%	Tropical Africa, South America, South-eastern Asia, and Western Pacific	1 Vectors (Anopheles mosquitos) 2 Transmitted by infected female mosquitoes’ bites	Microscopic examination of blood
	P. vivax
	P. ovale
	P. malariae
	P. knowlesi
Visceral leishmaniasis(c) [16]	Leishmania(a,b)donovani	200,000–400,000/per year	Northeast of the Indian subcontinent, East Africa	1 Vectors (Phlebotomus sandflies) 2 Transmitted by infected Phlebotomus sandflies’ bites	- Bone marrow sampling - Serological examination
	Leishmania infantum		Mediterranean region, Latin America
Dientamoebiasis(c) [17]	Dientamoeba fragilis	0.4–42%	Worldwide	1 Humans are the principal host 2 Fecal-oral (hypothetical transmission via Enterobius vermicularis eggs)	Stool examination
Anisakiasis(c) [18]	Anisakis simple	3/1,000,000 in Japan	Japan, Korea, Latin America, and Europe (Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Britain). Over 90% of cases are from Japan	1 Intermediate hosts (different species of crustaceans, fish, or squid) Definitive hosts big sea mammals (whales, dolphins, or seals) Humans are accidentally infected intermediate hosts 2 Ingestion of raw or undercooked fish containing larvae of the anisakis worm	Endoscopy, histopathological examination

^aMost common

^bMore severe clinical presentation

^cReferences