Progress in Parasitology
Parasites threaten the health of animals and humans alike. Especially in times of increasing globalization and global warming, parasites can enlarge their “kingdom” by spreading. At the same time many of the existing medical products have become ineffecti
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Heinz Mehlhorn Editor
Progress in Parasitology
Editor Prof. Dr. Heinz Mehlhorn Department of Zoomorphology Cell Biology and Parasitology Heinrich Heine University Universita¨tsstrasse 1 40225 Du¨sseldorf Germany [email protected]
ISSN 2192-3671 e-ISSN 2192-368X ISBN 978-3-642-21395-3 e-ISBN 978-3-642-21396-0 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-21396-0 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011935051 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface or Why Parasitology Research
Parasitology is an interdisciplinary science combining the activities of biologists, human physicians, pharmacists and veterinarians in the fight against parasites introducing diseases in humans and animals. Since its early beginnings in the middle of the eighteenth century parasitologists have acted together in international campaigns, although nationalists in many countries wanted “to cook their own soup”. These common efforts were based on the convincing insights that agents of diseases will not stop at the border of a country as was shown by the pandemics that “knocked at the European doors” at regular intervals killing millions of human beings and/or their live stock animals. Thus, bad experiences with flea-transmitted plaque disease, mosquito-transmitted malaria, or with faecally transmitted cholera forced the international scientific community into close cooperations in spite of the intensions of many local politicians. Through these efforts research over the last 150 years has revealed knowledge on the life cycles of the most important parasites, the discovery of their pathogenicity and physiology as well as deep insights into the pathways of transmission. On the basis of this knowledge and the development of very skilful methods of investigation the industry was able to produce potent products that allowed a quick and efficient diagnosis as well as the initiation of a powerful control. Without these success stories it would not have been possible to keep (rather) healthy and to nourish so many of
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