Parasitology

Parasitic diseases are found worldwide in almost every corner of the earth. The effects of parasitic diseases in humans is profound to say the least. Many of the other diseases in man which make the headlines in the news pale in comparison to the morbidity and mortality tallied every year by parasitic diseases. Yet they fail to consistently make the headlines. Each year malaria alone affects hundreds of millions of people in third world countries causing millions of deaths. The assumption by most of us in developed countries is that we are immune from the parasitic ravages of underdeveloped and developing areas of the world. And perhaps that is why they garnish little attention in the Press.

The reality is that our false sense of security is perhaps our greatest weakness. The world has become smaller. We are all now a global community. As transportation, world trade, and global warming have increased, so has the probability that any number of parastiic infections can now be seen in any developed country. We humans are more connected now than in any other time in the history of mankind. That is why it is imperative that we, as clinicians and laboratory personnel, maintain and increase our knowledge of parasitic diseases.

It is also important for us to educate the public about parasitic diseases. Only through education can the public learn to make the appropriate preventative decisions needed to minimize the probability of contracting parasitic infections. Only with their added voice in the political arena can decisions be made prudently and expediciously in reaction to the detection, prevention, and spread of disease.

We at Parasitology Illustrated want to provide a site that is full of reference material that is simple to navigate through and informational. We are striving to be different from other sites in that we want to provide detailed illustrations pointing out unique identifying characteristics that are paired with actual micro-photographs. Short and brief, each section strives to provide the information you need and nothing else. It is our goal to continue to build our site so that we can be the most complete go to source on parasitology as possible with links to what we think are the best reference sites to further supplement what we may fail to cover.

This site continues to evolve as the science of parasitology is always evolving. Every effort has been made to provide the most up to date information available. That being said, Parasitology Illustrated is not liable for any misinformation that may be contained on the site. Please contact us if there is an error found. We will research it and gladly correct the error if appropriate.