Otranto, Domenico

Parasites & Vectors

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Domenico Otranto

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BOOK REVIEW Open Access
Review of “Essentials of Veterinary Parasitology“ by
Hany M. Elsheikha and Naveed Ahmed Khan
Domenico Otranto
Book details
Elsheikha HM and Khan NA: Essentials of Veterinary Parasi-
tology Caister Academic Press; 2011:222. ISBN: 978-1-
904455-790
Review
Due to the severe impact of parasites of veterinary
importance on livestock, pets, wildlife and, for those of
zoonotic relevance, humans, veterinary parasitology has
generated great interest in the field of medical sciences.
This makes the study of veterinary parasitic diseases an
essential, basic discipline for veterinary courses. From
this arises the need for having a broad choice of text-
books and I welcome a new one entitled Essentials of
Veterinary Parasitology. Nonetheless, an interdisciplinary
approach with other basic and clinical disciplines is
needed when teaching and studying veterinary parasitol-
ogy from a theoretical and practical standpoint. This
makes the choice of “Essentials“ in the title of the text-
book a considerable challenge for its authors. My very
first impression was good by looking through the pages
of the introductory chapters, where the authors suc-
ceeded to a large extent in their attempt to propose an
original review of the main general parasitological issues.
More precisely, the first section of this multi-authored
book deals with the main features of the nature and
characteristics of parasitism. The mechanisms of para-
site establishment in the host at cellular and population
levels are admirably summarized according to the many
factors involved, depending on host, parasite and envir-
onment. In addition, the basics of host immune defences
are nicely reviewed, considering the great diversity of
parasites, host tissues and strategies that parasite species
have evolved to cope with natural and acquired
immunity.
However, I felt uncomfortable reading the core chap-
ters (sections II-IV), dealing with diseases caused by hel-
minths, protozoans and arthropods. In fact, these
sections display all the limitations of the book, which
seems to be oriented more to achieving an extreme sim-
plification rather than to present a tool for teaching and
spreading science. Incredibly, information on all para-
sites of animals is summarised in less than 100 pages
and each taxon and disease they cause in a few lines, in
spite of their relevance. This results in lack of essential
information, affecting the overall scientific quality of the
textbook, thus impairing the usefulness of its core chap-
ters for learning/teaching purposes.
Section V elucidates the standard techniques currently
used for laboratory diagnosis of parasitic infections.
Unfortunately, in this section also, the information is
highly compressed and thus far from being discussed in
a practical and efficacious way. For example, some of
the most important laboratory techniques (e.g., molecu-
lar techniques) are limited to the definition and basic
explanation of PCR in half a page. Conversely, and
rather unexpectedly for an essential textbook, Chapter
12 delves into pathological processes associated with
parasitic infections. The anatomo-histopathological find-
ings are reported for only a limited number of parasitic
diseases (e.g., echinococcosis, Eimeria stiedae, equine
protozoal myelitis) without any apparent order or criter-
ion in their selection. Probably, this information would
have been better placed in the sections dealing with
each parasitic infection to avoid numerous repetitions
which occur in the description of each disease.
One of the most interesting parts of the book is repre-
sented by section VI (i.e., ‘principles of parasite control’)
where the authors, without any pressure in reducing
text-length, present information on the integrated para-
site management approach dealing with host, environ-
ment and parasite. Accordingly, Chapters 14 and 15
deal with antiparasitic drugs, mechanisms of action and
resistance, with a focus on the management of anthel-
mintic resistance.
Correspondence: d.otranto@veterinaria.uniba.it
Department of Veterinary Public Health, University of Bari, 70010, Valenzano
(Bari), Italy
Otranto Parasites & Vectors 2011, 4:67
http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/4/1/67
© 2011 Otranto; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
With reference to its general structure and style, the
book is marred by a few inconsistencies, which leave the
reader with uncertainties on the information delivered.
For example, there is no consistency in the use of the
suffix -osis, instead of -asis, for animal diseases (pp.37,
39, 45). Although there is no consensus in the academic
community on this subject, readers should not allow
themselves to become confused by this editorial indeci-
siveness, clearly shown also in some titles (e.g., Leishma-
niasis (also known as leishmaniosis) p.103).
Misspellings (e.g., Gastrophilus p.13) and typographi-
cal errors (Toxoplasm agondii p.23) occur throughout
the text as well as some inaccuracies that would impair
the proper learning of students dealing with this text-
book. Therefore, reading this text, a student would learn
that Trichinella spiralis is the only species of Trichinella
causing trichinellosis (p.63) and that Leishmania spp.
infect dogs and humans all over the world (L. infantum
is only cited in the very last paragraph whereas all other
species were completely ignored, p.104). These major
omissions make irrelevant other errors such as those
related to the fact that there is field (not only labora-
tory!) evidence that Phortica variegata is the vector of
Thelazia callipaeda p.62.
In their introduction authors identified the over-
whelming quantity of data that might be “indigestible,
for students” and the need to “write more and more
about less and less” as the major challenges in teaching
veterinary parasitology. These assumptions are, in prin-
ciple, correct but probably represented the main short-
comings for a textbook, which intended to represent “an
essential reference for veterinary students, practicing
veterinarians and researchers in the field of parasitol-
ogy”. I would be rather concerned about the knowledge
students, practitioners and researchers might achieve in
this field of science by using this text as their reference.
Academics teaching veterinary parasitology should ask
themselves whether they are aiming to achieve an exces-
sive (perhaps unobtainable?) simplification of the disci-
pline, in order to render more “digestible” its topics, or
to provide an acceptable level of science in veterinary
parasitology.
Competing interests
The author declares that they have no competing interests.
Received: 27 April 2011 Accepted: 7 May 2011 Published: 7 May 2011
doi:10.1186/1756-3305-4-67
Cite this article as: Otranto: Review of “Essentials of Veterinary
Parasitology“ by Hany M. Elsheikha and Naveed Ahmed Khan. Parasites
& Vectors 2011 4:67.
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Otranto Parasites & Vectors 2011, 4:67
http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/4/1/67
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