Trends in parasitologyPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-09-11DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2026.08.010
Vera Putker, Mark G Sterken
{"title":"A plant-parasitic nematode's view on modern agriculture.","authors":"Vera Putker, Mark G Sterken","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.08.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.08.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are highly successful economically important parasites but our knowledge about them derives almost exclusively from agricultural systems. This crop-centred perspective overlooks the evolutionary processes that shaped nematode parasitism and how host plants cope with these parasites long before agriculture emerged. Here, we review the PPN perspective on agriculture by integrating the natural phylogeography, ecology, reproductive biology, and coevolutionary history of PPNs. We discuss how various life-history traits facilitated the adaptation of PPNs to agricultural environments, enabling these parasites to become the devastating pests they are today. This evolutionary perspective provides new insights into PPN virulence, persistence, and spread. Furthermore, it may guide the development of more sustainable management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":"1018-1031"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148945769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ancylotensins: a new category of hookworm excretory-secretory proteins.","authors":"Erich M Schwarz","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hookworms can parasitize humans for years because they export excretory-secretory proteins (ESPs) into their hosts. Four known categories of ESPs are antithrombotics, digestive enzymes, detoxifying enzymes, and immunomodulators. Koch et al. recently discovered ancylotensins, a new category of ESPs that mimic the mammalian gut hormone neurotensin.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149082292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Digital parasitology for small ruminant nematodes.","authors":"Aftab Siddique, Jan A van Wyk, Thomas H Terrill","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gastrointestinal nematodes, especially Haemonchus contortus, threaten small ruminant health, welfare, and productivity through anemia, production losses, and anthelmintic resistance. This opinion article presents digital parasitology as a framework to strengthen targeted selective treatment and integrated parasite management. We synthesize advances in AI-based FAMACHA scoring, smartphone hematocrit imaging, bioelectrical impedance analysis, radiofrequency sensing, radiofrequency identification-supported behavior monitoring, WebGIS decision support, and nutraceutical forage planning. These tools should not replace classical parasitology or veterinary judgment, but they can improve consistency, scalability, and farm-level decision-making. Key challenges include validation, affordability, explainability, model drift, device standardization, bias, veterinary oversight, and adoption. Digital tools could shift parasite control from blanket and/or reactive deworming to predictive, AI-guided prevention.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149082327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution confounds detectability in pathogen surveillance.","authors":"Janna R Willoughby, Mekala Sundaram","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pathogen surveillance generally assumes that detectability is static. However, pathogen evolution can alter diagnostic performance, causing detection probabilities to change over time. We discuss evolving detectability, its implications for surveillance and disease control, and the need to incorporate dynamic detection probabilities in pathogen monitoring frameworks.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149064524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Priscilla Huynh, Tanapan Sukee, Rana M Athar Ali, Anson Koehler, Neil D Young, Nichola E D Calvani
{"title":"Rethinking Fasciola hepatica control under changing transmission risk: lessons from Australia and New Zealand.","authors":"Priscilla Huynh, Tanapan Sukee, Rana M Athar Ali, Anson Koehler, Neil D Young, Nichola E D Calvani","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In many endemic livestock systems, Fasciola hepatica control is built around locally predictable transmission patterns that guide treatment timing. However, both climate change and invasive lymnaeid snails threaten the historical climate-snail-parasite relationships on which such strategies depend. Australia's seasonal treatment approach and New Zealand's experience with invasive Pseudosuccinea columella illustrate how established control can become misaligned when transmission ecology changes. Forecasting can identify emerging risk, but prediction alone is insufficient to justify revised treatment calendars. Contemporary livestock infection and snail data are needed to validate changes in transmission and translate them into locally adapted, integrated parasite management. Local lessons have global implications: historical control strategies should persist only where current evidence shows that their underlying transmission assumptions still hold.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149064543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"LARC-GAPs: emerging whole-sporozoite vaccines for high-level sterile protection against malaria.","authors":"Plabita Paul, Indrani Chakraborty, Raksha Devi, Satish Mishra","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Malaria remains a major global health challenge. Despite the recent deployment of the RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M vaccines, malaria cases and deaths continue to increase. Although these vaccines are a major achievement, their protection is incomplete and wanes over time. Whole-sporozoite vaccines are the most effective malaria vaccines targeting the pre-erythrocytic stage. Among them, genetically attenuated parasites (GAPs) have shown advantages over other vaccine approaches. Recent studies have shown that late liver-stage-arresting, replication-competent (LARC)-GAPs elicit broader immune responses and provide better protection than other malaria vaccines. Here, we highlight the development of GAP vaccines, compare early-arresting GAPs and LARC-GAPs, discuss recent clinical data, and assess their translational potential as next-generation malaria vaccines.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149115442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Starving but surviving: a new RNA switch rewires parasite metabolism.","authors":"Janina Jocks, Frank Seeber, Martin Blume","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intracellular Toxoplasma gondii parasites face severe metabolic stress during high-density infection. Giuliano et al. identify a novel mechanism involving the protein 'T. gondii parasite response to oxidation' (TgPRO). This RNA-binding protein regulates the translation of mRNAs vital for Fe-S cluster assembly and mitochondrial metabolism. TgPRO is crucial for oxygen-dependent adaptation and for ensuring optimal in vivo parasite replication.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149128823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Parul Sharma, Mohammad El Kadri, Bruno Bucheton, Jean-Mathieu Bart, Annette MacLeod, Vincent Jamonneau, Mamadou Camara, Brice Rotureau
{"title":"Skin is a critical interface for Trypanosoma brucei transmission.","authors":"Parul Sharma, Mohammad El Kadri, Bruno Bucheton, Jean-Mathieu Bart, Annette MacLeod, Vincent Jamonneau, Mamadou Camara, Brice Rotureau","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.09.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Trypanosoma brucei (Tb) is transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly and causes animal and human African trypanosomiases. Sleeping sickness due to Trypanosoma brucei gambiense is targeted for elimination by the World Health Organization (WHO). Traditionally viewed as bloodstream parasites, trypanosomes' distribution has been re-evaluated since Tb is primarily present in extravascular spaces, particularly in the skin. These skin-dwelling forms remain poorly characterized but have profound implications for transmission and could impact diagnosis, treatment, and elimination efforts. We propose the dermis as a critical compartment, serving as both an anatomical reservoir sustaining parasite persistence and a direct interface between hosts. This article will focus on skin-resident parasites to review current knowledge and formulate key research questions that warrant further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149128797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Domenico Otranto, Jairo A Mendoza-Roldan, Marcos A Bezerra-Santos, Filipe Dantas-Torres
{"title":"Onchocerca lupi.","authors":"Domenico Otranto, Jairo A Mendoza-Roldan, Marcos A Bezerra-Santos, Filipe Dantas-Torres","doi":"10.1016/j.pt.2026.08.008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2026.08.008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23327,"journal":{"name":"Trends in parasitology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148920542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}