Parasitology

The study of parasites that cause economic losses in agriculture or aquaculture operations, or which infect companion animals.

In fisheries biology, for example, parasite communities can be used to distinguish distinct populations of the same fish species co-inhabiting a region.

Additionally, parasites possess a variety of specialized traits and life-history strategies that enable them to colonize hosts.

A large proportion of parasite species are threatened by extinction, partly due to efforts to eradicate parasites which infect humans or domestic animals, or damage human economy, but also caused by the decline or fragmentation of host populations and the extinction of host species.

[7] In the same publication, Esperienze Intorno alla Generazione degl'Insetti (Experiences of the Generation of Insects), Francesco Redi also described ecto- and endoparasites, illustrating ticks, the larvae of nasal flies of deer, and sheep liver fluke.

In 1828, James Annersley described amoebiasis, protozoal infections of the intestines and the liver, though the pathogen, Entamoeba histolytica, was not discovered until 1873 by Friedrich Lösch.

Manson further predicted that the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, had a mosquito vector, and persuaded Ronald Ross to investigate.

At the same time, Giovanni Battista Grassi and others described the malaria parasite's life cycle stages in Anopheles mosquitoes.

Adult black fly ( Simulium yahense ) with Onchocerca volvulus emerging from the insect's antenna. The parasite is responsible for the disease known as river blindness in Africa. Sample was chemically fixed and critical point dried, then observed using conventional scanning electron microscopy. Magnified 100×.
The Italian Francesco Redi , considered to be the father of modern parasitology, was the first to recognize and correctly describe details of many important parasites . [ 2 ]
Cyst and imago of Giardia lamblia , the protozoan parasite that causes giardiasis . The species was first observed by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1681.