Authors

Discussion

Both humans and baboons (Papio) are susceptible to Strongyloides stercoralis and Strongyloides fuelleborni, however how these two infections cycles interact is currently poorly understood. This semi-systemic review assessed the global evidence of strongyloidiasis within baboons, Africa’s most prolific primate, through literature searches on the databases PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science, using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of 1588 articles, a total of 44 were finalised with data extracted regarding parasite and host species, disease prevalence, infection setting and diagnostic methods. Although disease prevalence was not affected by Strongyloides species, a significant difference in prevalence was found between two species of baboon. Infection setting also appeared not to significantly affect disease prevalence. Infection dynamics (e.g. baboon sex and age) were inadequately reported, moreover diagnostics infrequently used molecular methods, hampering precise incrimination of zoonotic cycles. This review highlights important gaps in the global epidemiology of zoonotic Strongyloides infections and emphasises the need for improved parasite species-level identification to be better characterise transmission risks to humans and inform effective control strategies.