1.Parasites in soil samples from Signy island, Antarctica
Lim, P.K.C. ; Lee, X.C ; Mohd Nazmi, N.M.A. ; Tang, Y.Y. ; Wong, S.F ; Mak, J.W ; Convey, P.
Tropical Biomedicine 2018;35(4):1007-1016
Studies on parasite populations in Antarctic soils are scarce and thus little is
known about the threat of these parasites towards either the natural fauna or human
visitors. However, human presence in Antarctica, mainly through research and tourism,
keeps increasing over time, potentially exposing visitors to zoonotic infections from
Antarctic wildlife and environment. Most available literature to date has focused on faecal
samples from Antarctic vertebrates. Therefore, this study addressed the possible presence
of parasites in Antarctic soil that may be infectious to humans. Soil samples were obtained
from five locations on Signy Island (South Orkney Islands, maritime Antarctic), namely
North Point and Gourlay Peninsula (penguin rookeries), Pumphouse (relic coal-powered
pump house), Jane Col (barren high altitude fellfield) and Berntsen Point (low altitude
vegetated fellfield close to current research station). Approximately 10% of the soil samples
(14/135) from 3 out of the 5 study sites had parasites which included Diphyllobotridae spp.
eggs, Cryptosporidium sp., an apicomplexan protozoa (gregarine), Toxoplasma gondii,
helminths (a cestode, Tetrabothrius sp., and a nematode larva) and mites. The presence of
parasites in the 3 sites are most likely due to the presence of animal and human activities
as two of these sites are penguin rookeries (North Point and Gourlay Peninsula) while the
third site (Pumphouse Lake) has human activity. While some of the parasite species found
in the soil samples appear to be distinctive, there were also parasites such as
Cryptosporidium and Toxoplasma gondii that have a global distribution and are potentially
pathogenic.