A brief cognitive and historical overview of Echinococcus and echinococcosis
Echinococcosis is a kind of parasitic zoonosis that seriously endangers human health and economic development,which is mainly caused by the parasitization and development of the Echinococcus larvae in the interme-diate host.According to current research advances,the globally identified Echinococcus includes 9 valid natural spe-cies,which can cause 4 types of echinococcosis.This consensus has evolved alongside the development of research meth-ods and scientific technology over the past two thousand years.Therefore,this article introduced the whole process of hu-man exploration,recognition and cognition of Echinococcus and echinococcosis by summarizing and combing references.The landmark historical event is that in 1801,Rudolphi established an independent genus of Echinococcus for this flat-worm.After that,several species of Echinococcus have been found in the world successively.In 1953,Rausch re-clas-sified Echinococcus based on biological characteristics and gradually developed the concept and classification method of subspecies for Echinococcus;in 1967,Rausch further proposed the concept of Echinococcus strains,which was con-firmed in the 1990s by Bowles through molecular biological methods.In 2013,Nakao introduced the phylogenetic spe-cies concept,revising Echinococcus into nine valid natural species that are still in use today.In addition,this paper summarized the discovery history of Echinococcus and echinococcosis in China.Since 1908,five species of Echinococcus have been reported in China,including E.shiquicus,which was unique to the Qingzang Gaoyuan region.This article provides a systematic review of the historical understanding of Echinococcus and echinococcosis,summarizing extensive historical data to further comprehend the taxonomic research advancements of Echinococcus.