Top Ten Most Dangerous Food-borne Parasites

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have just jointly released a list of "Top Ten" food-borne parasites of greatest global concern for humans. Despite their huge social costs and global impacts, scientists don't fully understand yet just exactly where they come from, how they live in the human body, and - most importantly - how they make us sick. The parasites affect the health of millions of people around the world and new strategies are being devised to control them. 

  
The top ten are:

1. Taenia solium (pork tapeworm): In pork
2. Echinococcus granulosus (hydatid worm or dog tapeworm): In fresh produce
3. Echinococcus multilocularis (a type of tapeworm): In fresh produce
4. Toxoplasma gondii (protozoa): In meat from small ruminants, pork, beef, game meat (red meat and organs)
5. Cryptosporidium spp.(protozoa): In fresh produce, fruit juice, milk
6. Entamoeba histolytica (protozoa): In fresh produce
7. Trichinella spiralis (pork worm): In pork
8. Opisthorchiidae (family of flatworms): In freshwater fish
9. Ascaris spp. (small intestinal roundworms): In fresh produce
10. Trypanosoma cruzi (protozoa): In fruit juices

From an initial list of 93 parasites, the above list was narrowed down to the top ten most damaging parasites based on the following four criteria: 1) number of global illnesses; 2) global distribution; 3) acute [immediate illness] morbidity; 4) chronic [long-term illness] morbidity; and 5) economic impact. Further information can be found in a joint FAO-WHO report: Multicriteria-based ranking for risk management of food-borne parasites, which can be browsed online.