Suitable for all students interested in parasitology, zoology and ecology. Recommended for the master study of parasitology (suitable to complete the first or second year of bachelor study).
The course deals with parasites important for human and veterinary medicine and at the same time acquaints students with interesting and exceptional representatives of individual groups.
The course is focused on demonstration and simple identification of the most important representatives. Permanent microscopic preparations (slides) are used. Part of the parasites is demonstrated native (protozoa, developmental stages of fluke, leeches, ticks and blood-feeding insects etc.) or in stereomicroscopes (ethanol preserved or "dry").
Overview of presented parasites:
Protozoa:
Trypanosomes (T. brucei - causative agent of sleeping sickness and T. cruzi), leishmania, Giardia intestinalis, Trichomonas vaginalis, Entamoeba histolytica, wild amoebae (Naegleria, Acantamoeba) causing accidental infections. Coccidia (Eimeria, Isospora, Toxoplasma), Plasmodium - the causative agent of human malaria, babesia.
Microsporidia.
Parasitic ciliates (Ciliata), Myxosporea. Opportunistic infections in immunodefective persons including Pneumocystis carinii.
Helminths:
Plathelminthes: Schistosoma spp., Cercaria dermatitis, hepatic, pulmonary and intestinal fluke infections. Monogenea. Tapeworms of the genus Diphylobothrium, Hymenolepis, Taenia, Echinococcus.
Nemathelminthes: Strongyloides stercoralis, Strogylidae, Enterobius vermicularis, Ascaris lumbricoides and Toxocara, Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, Onchocerca volvulus, Dracunculus medinensis and Truris spiderworm Acanthocephala and leeches (Annelida: Hirudo medicinalis).
Arthropods:
Mites: Ticks (Argasidae) and ticks (Ixodidae), Sarcoptes scabiei, Neotrombicula autumnalis, Demodex mites, allergic mites.
Insects: Lice (Anoplura) and lice (Malophaga), bedbugs Cimex lectularius, fleas (Aphaniptera) and two-winged family Culicidae, Psychodidae, Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, Tabanidae, Stomoxyidae, Glossinidae, Hippoboscidae. Diptera causing myiasis (Hypodermatidae, Oestridae, Cuterebridae, Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae).
Principles of parasitology and introduction to main representatives of parasitic protozoa, helminths and arthropods. Lectures are focussed on biology, life cycles and geographical distribution of parasites important for human and veterinary medicine, basic information is given also about epidemiology, pathology, diagnostics and treatment of parasitic diseases.
Practical courses are aimed at demonstration and identification of main representatives under microscopes and stereomicroscopes.