WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A RESERVOIR HOST

The majority of parasitic infections of man are of zoonotic origin. In a conceptual framework for the incrimination of mammalian reservoir h osts, these are defined as being essential to the maintenance of paras ite suprapopulations. A series of guidelines are given for the accumul ation of the relevant information. It is proposed that mammal ecologis ts can contribute significantly to the understanding of medically impo rtant zoonoses.