Parasitic Diseases

Diseases caused by animal parasites remain, on a worldwide basis, among the principal causes of morbidity and mortality. This book gives the medical student-and the practitioner-the basic information about parasitic protozoa, worms, and anthropods and the diseases they cause that will enable the reader to recognize and manage them. One is impressed with the broad scope of the subject, the diversity of the parasitic modes of life, and how much there is yet unknown about the biology of parasitism. At the same time the book provides vignettes of the often fascinating historical background of our knowledge of animal parasites and glimpses of current research that is beginning to shape the future of parasitology. William Trager, PH.D. Professor Emeritus of Parasitology The Rockefeller University New York, New York Preface This book fills the need we have felt in teaching parasitic diseases to medical students. Many of the available texts are too detailed for what is inevitably an introductory course; others that do treat this subject with appropriate brevity are now out of date; still others lack documentation of references and thus fail to guide the readers to a broader understanding of this subject. We have addressed ourselves to medical students, but they are not our sole target. Clinicians unfamiliar with the complexities of parasitic diseases need a guide to the diagnosis and management of these infections. We intend our book to serve this function as well.