Update of Cestodes Parasitizing Neotropical Hystricomorphic Rodent.

Abstract

This review aims at identifying cestodes that are present in hunted rodent species in the neo-tropical region. The rodent species that was investigated were the capybara (, Linnaeus, 1766), lappe (, Linnaeus, 1766), agouti (, Linnaeus, 1758), chinchilla (, Lichtenstein, 1829), Trinidad spiny rat (, Allen and Chapman, 1893), nutria (, Molina, 1782), and vizcacha (, Desmarest, 1817). These rodent species are utilized for their meats in many rural communities in the Caribbean and South America. These rodents belong to the hystricomorphic group.Daniels, 1895 was commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract ofand. Similarly, in the liver, muscle and subcutaneous tissue the metacestodes onDaniels, 1895 andwas found in the lappe and agouti. The capybara was found to have the most species of cestodes in its gastrointestinal tract when compared to the agouti and lappe. However, metacestodes were not recorded in the tissues of the capybara. This surprising feature shows the effect of the difference in feeding habits between the capybara and the agouti and lappe. The literature reviewed in this study includes scientific publications on cestodes and metacestodes of Hystricomorphic rodents. An exhaustive search was performed using the digital repositories in Google Scholar, Scielo, Redalyc, Scopus and Pubmed. Literature searched spanned the years 1970-2021. Cestodes of zoonotic significance wereand, with humans becoming infected when consuming eggs of contaminated food and water. The agouti and lappe act as intermediate host in the life cycle ofand, the definitive host (canids and felids) become infected by consuming of tissue infected with metacestodes. Humans become infected through the ingestion of eggs from the definitive host where cystic lesions develop in the liver, lungs and other abdominal organs.