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This volume covers the most important parasitic protists that are known to infect humans. The pathogens discussed cause diseases like toxoplasmosis, malaria, cryptosporidiosis, leishmaniasis, amoebiasis, trichomoniasis, and giardiasis. Readers from microbiology will appreciate the special focus on protist cell biology. As demonstrated in several of the chapters, these parasites are characterized by peculiar structures and organelles that cannot be found in mammalian cells – even though both are eukaryotic. The book employs light and electron microscopy to display the changing morphology in various stages of parasitic development. In turn, the results are supplemented by transcriptome and proteome profiles that help to describe how these changes take place on a molecular level. Both researchers and clinicians from tropical medicine will find essential and practically applicable background information on these increasingly important pathogens.

Spirochetes comprise a fascinating group of bacteria. Although diverse in terms of their habitat, ecology and infectivity for vertebrate and non-vertebrate hosts, they are often considered together because of their similar cellular morphologies. This volume brings together an international group of experts to provide essential insights into spirochete biology, with an emphasis on recent advances made possible by the availability of genome sequences. As such, it offers a valuable resource for microbiologists and other scientists with an interest in spirochete biology.

Most of the future increase in livestock production is expected to occur in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Cattle are the most numerous of the ruminant species in the tropics and provide the largest quantity of animal food products. More than one-third of the world's cattle are found in the tropics. Disease is the major factor which prohibits full utilization of these regions for cattle production. Various infectious and transmissible viral, rick­ ettsial, bacterial, and particularly protozoan and helminthic diseases, are widespread in the tropics and exert a heavy toll on the existing cattle industry there. This uncontrolled disease situation also discourages investment in cattle industries by private and government sectors. In Africa alone, it is estimated that 125 million head of cattle could be accommodated in the tropical rainbelt if the disease and other animal husbandry factors could be resolved. The potential of efficient cattle production under more favorable conditions prompted various international agencies to establish a multi­ million dollar International Laboratory for Research in Animal Diseases (lLRAD) in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. In South America, principal sites for raising cattle are shifting to the savannah lands because the more fertile soils are being used for crop produc­ tion, however, in the savannahs also, disease remains the most powerful deterrent in implementing the cattle industry.

African and South American trypanosomiases are notable features of clinical and veterinary practice in their respective endemic areas and, as such, are of considerable economic importance. Scientifically, however, their importance ex­ tends beyond their clinical significance, as the trypano­ somes are intriguing and easily manipulated models for the study of the control of gene expression, membrane chemistry, proliferation and differentiation. It is clear from the scientific press that the rate of advance has'hotted'up in these areas of trypanosome research over the past 5 years and so a single-topic volume within the scope of the present series seemed timely. As ever, the final admix­ ture of review topics was a compromise between what was appropriate and what was available - fortunately with the former in vast excess. I should like to highlight two omissions, made for en­ tirely different reasons. The first is a detailed treatment of the molecular biology of the variant surface glycopro­ teins of the African trypanosomes (in particular Trypano­ soma brucei and T. equiperdum). This topic has been the subject of several reviews, for example, BORST and CROSS (1982)1 and TURNER (1982)2, and so was excluded from the present volume. The second omission is a review of the first-class work on genetic recombination from the group of Dr. Leo Jenni at the Schweizerisches Tropeninsti­ tut, Basel. This group has used isoenzyme markers to show that T.

The construction of this volume has been guided by two personal convictions. Experience in the field of experimental chemotherapy, both in the pharmaceutical industry and academia, has convinced us that recent quantum technological advances in biochemistry, molecular biology, and immunology will permit and, indeed, necessitate an increasingly greater use of rational drug development in the future than has been the custom up to now. In Part l, therefore, we asked our contributors to provide detailed reviews covering the biology of the malaria parasites and their relation with their hosts, the experimental procedures including culture techniques that are necessary to take a drug from primary screening to clinical trial, and an account of antimalarial drug resistance. Our second conviction is that many research workers are all too loath to learn from the lessons of the past. For this reason we asked the contributors to Part 2 of this volume to review very thoroughly the widely scattered but voluminous literature on those few chemical groups that have provided the antimalarial drugs in clinical use at the present time. Much can be learned from the history of their development and the problems that have arisen with them in man. Some indeed may still have much to offer if they can be deployed in better ways than they are at present. This question has been taken up by several authors.

Peritrophic membranes are secretion products of the midgut. For long they have been related only to insects, but they occur widely in the animal kingdom. They effect a part of the gut lumen and function not only as a mechanical protection barrier, but also as an ultrafilter, a barrier to parasites, and as envelopes for fecal pellets. Such peritrophic envelopes are of great ecological importance in marine environments. The book is divided into the following themes: - Occurrence - Formation and Structure - Degradation - Chemical Composition - Functions. It is the first comprehensive compilation of all data concerning peritrophic membranes and will provide a basis for future researches in this up to now often neglected field.

A comprehensive account of protozoan and metozoan diseases in modern clinical practice, with orientation towards clinical management of parasitic infections. In the past, parasitology was considered as an obscure subject of little relevance to the majority of clinicians and microbiologists. Over the last decade, however, much has happened to change this, not least the explosion in foreign travel This textbook is the forth in the Principles and Practice series, providing an expansive and detailed coverage of clinical microbiology. It has a similar appeal to that of Zuckerman's, Principles & Practice of Clinical Virology, with an international authorship and emphasis placed on integrating new knowledge in a clinically relevant manner.. An essential, up-to-date sourcebook on the fundamentals of human parasitology. Provides a global approach with renowned and international authorship. Completes the quartet of Principles and Practice series in Microbiology

There is an urgent need to uncover new therapies that will protect against malaria, as the parasite becomes increasingly resistant to available drugs and this book offers insights into three interrelated aspects of the malaria-infected erythrocyte: • The transport of solutes into and out of the infected cell and the use of specific trafficking pathways in drug targeting • The traffic of proteins produced by the intracellular parasite as an essential process for the biogenesis of transport systems. • The relationship between the transport of drugs into the infected cell and the mode of drug action and drug resistance.

An estimated 2-3 billion people in the less developed countries suffer from infections, often multiple, caused by a variety of parasitic organisms. These infections are frequently debilitat­ ing rather than fatal, and the toll in human misery is fearsome. To this may be added the prevalence of similar diseases in do­ mestic animals, which diminish supplies of animal pro tein. As the world population increases, the already enormous problem also continues to grow. The resources of the less developed nations are inadequate for solving the problem, and in the de­ veloped countries a lack of interest in tropical diseases has meant low priority for research. Two recent methodological advances now raise the real possibility of a systematic and effec­ tive attack upon these diseases - hybridoma and recombinant nucleic acid technologies. The combination ofthese with the still necessary clinical, parasitological and imrnunological in­ formation permits a logical, planned and realistic approach to diagnosis and treatment. The central aim ofthese modem tech­ niques is to define antigens with regard to diagnosis, protection and pathology. In the case of some diseases, work has already commenced along these lines; in the case of others, knowledge lags a long way behind. This volume represents a summary of current knowledge about a wide, representative spectrum of tropical diseases. There is considerable common ground between the different infections as regards objectives and the methods for achieving them.