Parasites, parasitology and parasitologists

The science of parasitology is one of the many new disciplines of the twentieth century, as such it is a dynamic and rapidly evolving science which encompasses an increasing number of sub-disciplines and technologies. However, will the fragmentation involved in current methods of scientific enquiry and the competition for funding mean the decline of certain areas of parasitology or perhaps the complete loss of the discipline. This paper attempts to address these questions by considering the development of the discipline of parasitology especially within Australia and by considering the mechanisms of attaining funding for science. Technological change and its impact on parasitology is also considered, and requirements for maintenance of the discipline and its practitioners are suggested.     

Are ChatGPT and other pretrained language models good parasitologists?

Large language models, such as ChatGPT, will have far-reaching impacts on parasitology, including on students. Authentic experiences gained during students’ training are absent from these models. This is not a weakness of the models but rather an opportunity benefiting parasitology at large.     

Parasite systematics in the 21st century: opportunities and obstacles

Thanks to the phylogenetic systematics revolution, systematic parasitology is poised to make significant contributions in tropical medicine and public health, biodiversity science, and evolutionary biology. At the same time, the taxonomic impediment is acute within parasitology. Both systematists and non-systematists must be interested in working towards common goals and establishing collaborative efforts in order to re-vitalize and re-populate systematic parasitology.     

Nifs and Sufs in malaria

This review assembles data from three bodies of literature (bacterial genetics, plastid biogenesis and parasitology) that seldom have much direct cross-talk. After overcoming terminological complications to sort out microbial nifS from sufS genes, we connect a bacterial operon, recently found to be involved in iron metabolism, the formation of [Fe-S] clusters and oxidative stress to a potentially important gene (sufB) carried on the degenerate plastid genome of malaria and related parasites.     

A glossary of scientific terms used in the Russian-language literature on parasitic and blood-sucking arthropods

The glossary includes the major terms and concepts most often used in the Russian literature on parasitology and medico-veterinary entomology. Each term is explained, and some are supplemented with more common English equivalents. The glossary covers only the common terms and does not include those referring to very specific topics and concepts; the names of arthropod taxa and morphological terms are also not included. The list of terms is by no means a comprehensive glossary and is not supposed to be a normative edition.     

Collaborative parasitology: student partnerships in open education

Student-faculty partnerships can drive innovation in parasitology education and outreach. We provide recommendations for building successful partnerships during the design, implementation, and impact assessment stages. We also introduce a new series of freely available educational and community outreach materials available on a platform that the parasitology community can contribute to.     

Status of medical parasitology in South Africa: new challenges and missed opportunities

In South Africa medical parasitology is neglected due to a shift in funding priorities to focus on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Evidence suggests that helminth infections have deleterious effects on HIV and tuberculosis. A multisectoral approach involving key government and research institutions is required to rekindle interest in medical parasitology.     

Pulse radiolysis, free radicals and antiparasitic drugs

Free radicals have been proposed to be of significance in several important aspects of parasitology because of their generation during parasitic infection and chemotherapy, and their potential for causing cellular damage. Roger Bisby describes how radiation chemical methods, and pulse radiolysis in particular, may be used to generate and study free radicals that are of interest in parasitology.     

The Problem of Auto-Correlation in Parasitology

Explaining the contribution of host and pathogen factors in driving infection dynamics is a major ambition in parasitology. There is increasing recognition that analyses based on single summary measures of an infection (e.g., peak parasitaemia) do not adequately capture infection dynamics and so, the appropriate use of statistical techniques to analyse dynamics is necessary to understand infections and, ultimately, control parasites. However, the complexities of within-host environments mean that tracking and analysing pathogen dynamics within infections and among hosts poses considerable statistical challenges. Simple statistical models make assumptions that will rarely be satisfied in data collected on host and parasite parameters. In particular, model residuals (unexplained variance in the data) should not be correlated in time or space. Here we demonstrate how failure to account for such correlations can result in incorrect biological inference from statistical analysis. We then show how mixed effects models can be used as a powerful tool to analyse such repeated measures data in the hope that this will encourage better statistical practices in parasitology.     

Echinostomes as experimental models for interactions between adult parasites and vertebrate hosts

Echinostomes are intestinal trematodes that, for years, have served as experimental models in different areas of parasitology. However, the usefulness of these trematodes in experimental parasitology has been underappreciated. In this article, we examine the characteristics that make echinostomes useful models for analysis of the interactions between adult parasites and vertebrate hosts, particularly in relation to the host-related factors that determine the establishment of the parasites.     

Disease mapping in veterinary parasitology: an update

The development of methods for disease mapping has progressed considerably in recent years. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) represent new tools for the study of epidemiology, and their application to veterinary medicine, and in particular to veterinary parasitology, has become more and more advanced to study the spatial and temporal patterns of diseases. The present paper reports an update regarding the use of these technologies in veterinary parasitology.     

Herminthology: promoting gender equity in science and parasitology

Gender inequity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) fields, including parasitology, continues to limit the participation of women in scientific leadership and development. Here we highlight the aims and activities of Herminthology, an initiative promoting the work of women in parasitology, alongside the current status quo of men and women scientists in the discipline.     

融合式教学在病原生物学教学中的发展与实践

在病原生物学教学中贯彻融合式教学的理念,针对不同学制和医学专业的学生将问题式教学(PBL)和案例式教学(CBL)等多样化教学模式有机组合,并建立了可行措施进一步整合教学资源和推进实验教学改革,提高教学实效.     

Screening and synthesis: high throughput technologies applied to parasitology

High throughput technologies continue to develop in response to the challenges set by the genome projects. This article discusses how the techniques of both high throughput screening (HTS) and synthesis can influence research in parasitology. Examples of the use of targeted and phenotype-based HTS using unbiased compound collections are provided. The important issue of identifying the protein target(s) of bioactive compounds is discussed from the synthetic chemist's perspective. This article concludes by reviewing recent examples of successful target identification studies in parasitology.     

Parasite systematics in the 21st century: opportunities and obstacles

Taxonomic names and phylogenetic hypotheses are indispensable tools for modern biological research, both basic and applied. Like all disciplines, parasitology suffers from the 'taxonomic impediment' - a global shortage of professional taxonomists and systematists. Only a fraction of the species of parasites on this planet have been identified, and the evolutionary relationships of only a minority of those are understood; thus, information on how to manage parasite biodiversity, including known and potential disease agents, is incomplete. A renewal of systematic parasitology has a key role in redefining the relationship between mankind and the organisms whose biology fascinates us so much.     

An Australian network to support the understanding and control of parasites

The Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Network for Parasitology will focus and coordinate the fundamental, strategic and applied parasitology research in Australia. It will raise the standing of Australia in the field, assist in the community understanding of parasitology, and maintain and improve the capacity of Australia to keep its stock, crops, wildlife and people free from disease. On an international scale, the ARC/NHMRC Network will work with other countries to develop new technologies for the detection and control of parasites.     

Progress in paediatric parasitology: a preface to a topic focusing on ever younger subjects

Without realizing it perhaps, the research activities of many parasitologists are often focused upon the study of parasites most commonly found in children. Though there is little recognition of paediatric parasitology as a separate topic within medical parasitology, with the global interest in promotion of maternal and child health, alleviation of diseases associated with poverty and requirements of 'child-sized' medicines, a more formal consideration is now timely. Recent research, for example, has highlighted that defining precisely the 'first-age' at which parasites interfere with a child's health, or normal developmental processes, is being revised. Attention is now drawn towards ever younger subjects, for parasites have the capacity to also influence the health of the foetus within the in utero environment, altering immune-development. These subtle, yet evolutionary profound interactions perhaps manifest themselves as to why some children are more prone to infection(s), develop overt disease and sadly die while others do not. Here, we address the growing importance of paediatric parasitology and its applications within disease control strategies as highlighted in the 2010 Autumn Symposium of the British Society of Parasitology.     

The evolution of Brazilian studies on helminths and the Escola tropicalista bahiana (Bahia Tropical School) (1866-1892)

In the mid nineteenth century, laboratory research in embryology, development, ecology and pathogeny of helminths unexpectedly resulted in a change in the explication of the etiology of some human pathology that was traditionally attributed to environmental factors. The new postulates of the parasitology of helminths put in question the traditional explications as well as the recognized authorities in the fields of clinical medicine, hygiene, and of medical geography, affecting not only the traditional circles where the innovations were discussed, but also the institutions that controlled and validated medical knowledge. From the beginning of the decade of the 1860s, a group of Brazilian medical doctors, initially led by Otto Wucherer, took part in this scientific movement that had an important impact on the area of the domestic and international academic medicine. The causality of known diseases, such as intertropical hypoemia, hematochyluria and elephantiasis, became the focus of intense debate between 1866 and 1892. By the end of this period, the field of helminthic parasitology had available well-established methodological and conceptual criteria and the role of Ankylostomum duodenale and of Wuchereria bancrofti in the production of those diseases was fully accepted.     

Parasitism and ecological parasitology

Parasitism as one of the modes of life is a general biological phenomenon and is characteristic of all viruses, many taxa of bacteria, fungi, protists, metaphytes, and metazoans. Zooparasitology is focused on studies of parasitic animals, particularly, on their taxonomy, anatomy, life cycles, host-parasite relations, biocoenotic connections, and evolution. Ecological parasitology is a part of ecology as a discipline studying the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings. The present paper contains a critical analysis of the problems, main postulates, and terminology of the modern ecological parasitology.