Study Guide. Medical parasitology

Preface

Organization of the parasitology program is governed by the short duration of the course. To reduce lecture time and to allow more time for practical training we have prepared this Study Guide which cannot, however, cover the whole field of medical parasitology. Since clinical parasitology will be taught in the later years of the medical course, descriptions of the pathogenesis, clinical symptoms and treatment of parasitic diseases are not included. What the Study Guide does give is information regarding the biology of human parasites and the diagnostics and epidemiology of the diseases they cause.

We prepared the previous edition of Study Guide in accordance with the expertise available at the time of compilation. Since then parasitology has changed dramatically. Changes include newly recognized parasites of man and new diagnostic tests. In this new edition we have therefore made the main following changes: new life cycles have been added or have been redrawn, updated information has been included and the various types of questions included in the "self-assessment test" have been simplified at the students` request. The organization of labs and most of the parasite contours included in Part 1 have also been changed. In addition, students now have to document their microscopic observation by drawing the morphological features of parasites and by filling in empty places in the tables. As the title suggests, we are attempting to present the fundamentals of human parasites in a concise form. Therefore neither detailed descriptions of diagnostic techniques nor details of parasite morphology are included in the booklet.