A walk on the wild side: A review of the epidemiology of and in wild hosts.

species are cosmopolitan nematode parasites of companion, domestic and wild hosts. Of the 26 known species of only and are definitively zoonotic. The significance of wild carnivores as definitive hosts of . and . respectively, has received far less attention compared to domestic dogs and cats. Complex environmental changes have promoted increasing contact between wildlife, domestic animals and humans that can enhance the risk of pathogen spillover. This review lists a total of 19 species of wild canid host that have been shown to act as definitive hosts for . and a total of 21 species of wild felid host. In general, the number of publications focusing on felid host species is fewer in number, reflecting the general paucity of data on . . The wild canids that have received the most attention in the published literature include the red fox (), the wolf (, and the golden jackal (). The wild felid species that has received the most attention in the published literature is the Eurasian lynx (). Some non-canid and non-felid hosts also act as definitive hosts of species. Certainly, red foxes would appear to be the most significant wild species in terms of their potential to transmit to domestic dogs and humans via environmental contamination. This can be explained by their increasing population densities, encroachment into urban areas and their dietary preferences for a wide range of potential paratenic hosts. However, a major challenge remains to assess the relative importance of wild hosts as contributors to environmental contamination with ova. Furthermore, one major constraint to our understanding of the significance of wildlife parasitism is a lack of access to samples, particularly from rare host species.