Anisakis and anisakidosis: Case reports and hosts in South America. Systematic review.

Abstract

Introduction: Anisakidosis is a disease caused by the consumption of raw or semi-cooked seafood parasitized by nematode larvae of the Anisakidae family. In Europe and Asia, it is a public health problem; however, in South America it is little known. Objective: To present anisakidosis case reports and the intermediate hosts of Anisakis reported in South America. Materials and methods: A systematic review was conducted in Medline, Cochrane, Embase, LILACS and Scopus using a structured search of MeSH and DeCS descriptors. Search strategy: publication period: inception of each database-September 2018; languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese; study types: case reports and cross-sectional observational studies. The review was complemented with an unstructured search in SciELO and Google Scholar. Results: The initial search yielded 172 articles. After removing duplicates and reviewing the inclusion criteria, 69 studies were selected for full analysis: 19 case reports and 50 host records. The most reported form of anisakidosis was gastrointestinal anisakidosis with 45 cases; this parasitosis was caused by a single larva in 41 (91.1%). There are several reports of fish for human consumption parasitized by the Anisakis, Contracaecum, Pseudoterranova and Hysterothylacium genera in Argentina (22 fish species), Brazil (34 species), Chile (15 species), Colombia (17 species), Ecuador (8 species), Peru (7 species), Uruguay and Venezuela (2 species each). Conclusion: Anisakidosis is a latent risk in South America, so it is necessary to establish effective regulations for efficiently controlling the appearance of this parasitic disease in the region. Furthermore, the general population should receive more information about the precautions regarding saltwater fish consumption.

Keywords

• Anisakis
• Anisakiasis
• South America
• Zoonoses
• Communicable Diseases, Emerging