Faculty of Biology: NST II BBS Biology of Parasitism

	NST Part II BBS - Biology of Parasitism

University of Cambridge > School of the Biological Sciences > Faculty of Biology > NST courses >

Contact for further information:Dr Sheelagh Lloyd, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine

Tel. 337690; Fax: 337610; e-mail: ssl1000@hermes.cam.ac.uk

Lectures for this Minor Subject are given three days a week in the Michaelmas and first half of the Lent term, in the Department of Pathology.

The course is of interest to both students of medicine, veterinary medicine and zoology as it uses as its examples parasites of both man and domestic and wild animals. The principles of the biology of the parasites and their relationship with the host are examined in various sections:

the global impact of parasitism on man and animals and resources, and its relationship to climate and social, economic and management conditions
mechanisms of host finding, parasitism and survival in the host
the external, climatic and intrinsic (i.e. reproduction, immune) factors affecting parasites and host recognition by parasites in relation to the epidemiology of and transmission of infection and disease
the important zoonoses transmitted between animals and man and the potential for control
parasite antigenicity, host immune responses against this and the immunopathological consequences of infections
the potential of control of disease by chemotherapy, biological means and vaccination.

It is hoped that this course will impart some of the unique attributes of veterinary and medical parasites. For example:

that they, as their free-living arthropod and helminth counterparts, are extremely successful at survival
that their success at survival leads to their major impact on human and animal survival and welfare
that their mechanisms of survival have led to parasites being a major model in fundamental studies involving epidemiology, mathematical modelling, cell biology, immunology, molecular biology, etc.

Thus, information on the principles of parasite biology has wide-ranging application

Dissertation is available

Timetable for 2012-13

All lectures take place in the Department of Pathology on M. Tu. Th. 4 p.m.

Michaelmas

Lecture 1. Basic morphology and life cycles. Adaptations for transmission (Thursday 4 Oct)
Lectures 2-6. Adaptations for transmission. Structural and behavioural modifications including host recognition by free-living stages (trematodes, nematodes, arthropods) (Five lectures beginning Monday 8 Oct).
Lectures 7-11. Epidemiology of fasciolosis, gastro-intestinal nematodes and ticks and their associated diseases (liver pathology, anaemia, disease transmission, including endemic stability of infections) (Five lectures beginning Thursday 18 Oct).
Lectures 12-14. Recognition of and development of Plasmodium, Leishmania and Trypanosoma in intermediate hosts (Three lectures beginning Tuesday 30 Oct).
Lecture 15.6Innate invertebrate immune responses to parasites (Tuesday 6 Nov).
Lectures 17-23. Zoonoses (variously Taenia, Echinococcus, Toxocara, Cryptosporidium, Giardia) (Eight lectures beginning Thursday 8 Nov).

Lent term

Lectures 24-26. Zoonoses (Toxoplasma, Trichinella, Fish borne trematodes) (Three lectures beginning Tuesday 15 Jan).
Lectures 27-31. Chemotherapy and resistance to insecticides and anthelmintics (Five lectures beginning Tuesday 22 Jan).
Lecture 32-35. Alternate methods of control, including bioinsecticides and biological control (Four lectures beginning Tuesday 5 Feb).



© 2005 School of the Biological Sciences, University of Cambridge Information provided by facbiol@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk.

NST Part II BBS - Biology of Parasitism

Contact for further information:Dr Sheelagh Lloyd, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine