Oesophagostomum - Reservoir

Reservoir

Oesophagostomum are carried predominantly by non-humans, infecting cattle, sheep, goats, wild pigs, and primates. Humans are largely presumed to be an accidental host, as they are not suitable for completion of the Oesophagostomum development; however, the extreme localization of oesophagostomiasis to northern Togo and Ghana in Africa suggests the possibility that the Oesophagostomum is increasingly exhibiting preference for human hosts.

Until recently it was believed that primates were the main reservoirs of human-infecting Oesophagostomum in northern Togo and Ghana, as these particular species have a considerable concentration in non-human primate reservoirs. A 2005 study done by van Lieshout and de Grujiter found that O. bifurcum in humans from northern Ghana is distinct from the O. bifurcum found in olive baboons and mona monkeys outside the endemic area. They used species-specific PCR and microscopy to establish the identification of two separate species of O. bifurcum. These results are significant, as they necessitate further research to determine the definitive reservoirs of human-infecting O. bifurcum.