A disease from the devil? : Could Baylisascaris tasmaniensis cause disease in humans?

The island state Tasmania hosts vast tracts of world heritage listed wilderness. Over the past twenty-five years, a numberof novel zoonoses have emerged from this wilderness and the area has recently become a substantial drawcard for wilderness experience tourism. These forests play host to several species of marsupial carnivore, and their heirloom species parasite; Baylisascaris tasmaniensis. This parasite shares a similar life cycle to Baylisascaris procyonis in America. We suggest that due to increased human interactions with the Tasmanian wilderness, habitat change and increased human association with Tasmanian devils due to programs to preserve this species, B. tasmaniensis has the capacity to emerge as a novel form of zoonotic disease in humans.