The vector-borne disease leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania species protozoa, is transmitted to humans by phlebotomine sand flies. Development of Leishmania to infective metacyclic promastigotes in the insect gut, a process termed metacyclogenesis, is an essential prerequisite for transmission. Based on the hypothesis that vector gut microbiota influence the development of virulent parasites, ...

The evolution of drug resistant parasitic sea lice is of major concern to the salmon farming industry worldwide and challenges sustainable growth of this enterprise. To assess current status and development of L. salmonis sensitivity towards different pesticides used for parasite control in Norwegian salmon farming, a national surveillance programme was implemented in 2013. The programme aims t...

Recent reviews (Feachem et al.; Alonso et al.) have concluded that in order to have a sustainable impact on the global burden of malaria, it is essential that we knowingly reduce the global incidence of infected persons. To achieve this we must reduce the basic reproductive rate of the parasites to < 1 in diverse epidemiological settings. This can be achieved by impacting combinations of the fo...

Between June and September 1944 there were 875 African soldiers admitted to the 37th General Hospital at Accra in the Gold Coast. Of these there were 10 who showed genital oedema in which filariasis was suspected. The oedema affected the penis in all of these patients and the scrotum also in 7 of them. On each an examination was made for microfilariae, by means of a day-and-night blood film to ...

Food-borne parasitic zoonoses are emerging as major public health problems in most countries because they are widespread and pose a medical challenge. Not only are they important from an economic standpoint, but they also cause severe sequalae in all those affected. The extent of parasitic zoonoses in Malaysia is considered a "tip of the iceberg" problem. Cases of zoonotic diseases, like porocp...

Healthcare Delivery Systems are becoming overloaded in developing countries like India and China. It is imperative that more efficient and cost effective processes are employed. One such requirement is the automatic detection of malaria parasites in stained blood smears. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease. Each year Malaria kills between one and three million people. The most conven...

The development of palaeoparasitology in Japan has occurred in recent decades. Despite the fact that archaeology in Japan has been slow to develop techniques for excavating ancient toilets, important information about the development of sanitation has been derived from the analysis of a few sites. This shows that the earliest people had very simple methods of sanitation. As populations increase...

Eosinophilic meningitis is defined by the presence of 10 or more eosinophils per microliter in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or eosinophilia of at least 10% of the total CSF leucocyte count.1 It is rare in Western countries, where it is sometimes seen in association with tuberculosis, syphilis, and coccidioidomycosis.2 Worldwide, the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis is invasion of t...

Leishmaniasis is a complex vector-borne protozoan disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania. The parasites hugely vary in their mode of tropism giving rise to different non-lethal to fatal clinical patterns of the disease. Afflicting millions, the disease is endemic in tropics and sub-tropics, where majority of the affected individuals are rural and unsound economically, leading to it...

Diarrhea is the manifestation of gastrointestinal infection and is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity specifically among the children of less than 5 years age worldwide. Moreover, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of reports of intestinal infections continuously in the industrialized world. These are largely related to waterborne and food borne outbreaks. These...