Activation of Th2 CD4(+) T cells is necessary and sufficient to elicit allergic airway disease, a mouse model with many features of human allergic asthma. Effectively controlling the activities of these cells could be a panacea for asthma therapy. Blood-feeding parasites have devised remarkable strategies to effectively evade the immune response. For example, ticks such as Ixodes scapularis, wh...

Our understanding of the critical shift in life history among insect parasitoids from ectoparasitism to endoparasitism is hindered by the fact that this particular life history trait is not known for many phylogenetically important taxa. One method of coping with this problem is to seek correlations between the ovipositor structure and this life history trait among taxa whose life history is kn...

Little is known about the frequency of water mite ectoparasitism (Acari: Hydrachnida) within and among damselfly species of Central Florida. Here I present a field survey of the assemblage of damselflies and their water mite parasites at the Archbold Biological Station (Lake Placid, FL) during late Mar, 2006. During this period, 4 species of damselfly were abundant: Ischnura hastata (Say) and N...

BACKGROUND Managed, feral and wild populations of European honey bee subspecies, Apis mellifera, are currently facing severe colony losses globally. There is consensus that the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, that switched hosts from the Eastern honey bee Apis cerana to the Western honey bee A. mellifera, is a key factor driving these losses. For >20 years, breeding efforts have not produ...

Green terror ( Andinoacara rivulatus ) is one of the most popular freshwater ornamental fish Cichlidae, which commonly bred and cultivated in Iran. The aim this study was to investigate main cause green mass losses an breeding center Nazarabad, Alborz province. Following chronic continuous mature terrors with clinical signs including white feces hanging from anus, were sampled between June 2021...

Poultry products are considered as one of the most important sources of food for humans, worldwide. Indigenous poultry production has grown in popularity among villagers and some urbanites due to simple maintenance conditions, adequate adaption of poultry to different climatic conditions, and acceptable product yield. Parasites are among the main pathogenic agents, threatening the health of pou...

  Two hundred forty seven species of parasites from Iranian freshwater fishes are presented in this synopsis. The parasites were recorded from infestations in fish from different parts of the country and summarized according to host species, organs were the parasite infestations occurred, province, faunal region and reference numbers. The following aspects of parasite infestations were also dis...

A study of head lice infestations among young people, adults and elderly individuals was conducted from August 2010 to July 2013 in Manaus, AM, Northern Brazil. Hair samples collected from 1,860 individuals in 18 barber shops and beauty parlors were examined for the ectoparasite. The occurrence of pediculosis and its association with factors, such as sex, age, ethnicity, hair characteristics an...

The ectoparasitic copepod, Caligus flexispina, is causing increasing problems in farmed salmonids in southern Chile. Field and experimental approaches were used to assess whether any of the three host species, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, atlantic salmon Salmo salar and coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch, is preferentially colonized. Prevalence, abundance, density and developmental stages a...