Teaching of Veterinary Parasitology to University students in Trinidad, West Indies; are our local wildlife species neglected?

Parasites of veterinary importance have been heavily focused on domesticated livestock that was introduced into the neo-tropics. The text used in the teaching parasitology to veterinary students in Trinidad has only investigated the parasites of domesticated species. In the reviewed veterinary parasitology text no mention was made on the parasites that affect wild neo-tropical animals. Information on wild neo-tropical animals had to be sourced from texts on the management of wild life animals in the Neotropics. The texts that were reviewed in this document spanned from the mid-1950s to 2020. The information presented in this review reveals the exhaustive work done on the parasites of domesticated species but also revealed little information on neo-tropical animals with the potential for domestication. In conclusion, this review reveals the gap of information that is missing from parasitology texts used in the teaching of veterinary students. In the future these parasitology texts can be revised to include chapters on the parasites of neo-tropical animals with the potential for domestication. At present students that graduate from the veterinary parasitology course has little information on the parasites of animals which are present in their ‘backyards’.

Retrospective study of canine endoparasites diagnosed by fecal flotation methods analyzed across veterinary parasitology diagnostic laboratories, United States, 2018

Background Companion animal endoparasites play a substantial role in both veterinary medicine and public health. Updated epidemiological studies are necessary to identify trends in occurrence and distribution of these parasites, and their associated risk factors. This study aimed to assess the occurrence of canine endoparasites retrospectively, using fecal flotation test data available through participating academic veterinary parasitology diagnostic laboratories across the United States of America (USA). Methods Canine fecal flotation records from ten veterinary diagnostic laboratories located in nine states in the USA acquired from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018, were included. Results A total of 4692 fecal flotation test results were obtained, with a majority comprised of client-owned dogs (3262; 69.52%), followed by research dogs (375; 8.00%), and shelter dogs (122; 2.60%). Samples from 976 (20.80%) dogs were positive for at least one parasite, and co-infections of two or more parasites were found in 3.82% (179/4692) of the samples. The five most commonly detected parasites were: Giardia sp., (8.33%; 391/4692), Ancylostomatidae (5.63%; 264/4692), Cystoisospora spp. (4.35%; 204/4692), Toxocara canis (2.49%;117/4692), and Trichuris vulpis (2.43%; 114/4692). Various other internal parasites, including gastrointestinal and respiratory nematodes, cestodes, trematodes, and protozoans were detected in less than 1% of samples. Conclusions These data illustrate the importance of parasite prevention, routine fecal screening, and treatment of pet dogs. Additionally, pet owners should be educated about general parasite prevalence, prevention, and anthelmintic treatment regimens to reduce the risks of environmental contamination and zoonotic transmission. Graphical Abstract

Model of Success: World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology African Foundation (1997–2019)

No abstract available.

Desenvolvimento e utilização do jogo VetParasitoQuiz como estratégia de ensino gamificada para o ensino de Parasitologia Veterinária

<p class="Normal1">Parasitology can be defined as the branch of biology that studies parasites and parasitism in general, covering diverse areas, such as helminthology, protozoology, ectoparasitology and entomology. Due to the large amount of content studied and the complexity of scientific names, it is generally difficult for students to fix the content taught during the course. Gamification has been gaining ground in current teaching methodologies, as it represents an alternative way of how knowledge can be passed on, as it is clear that the playful form of teaching shows a higher rate of fixation and learning. Therefore, the aim was to develop a quiz application on veterinary parasitology for Android smartphones. The game was called VetParasitoQuiz, having been made available on Google’s online store for downloads on Android devices. Then, it was tested and evaluated by the students enrolled in the discipline of Veterinary Parasitology and the discipline of Parasitic Diseases of the semesters of 2018, of the Veterinary Medicine course at the Federal Institute of Paraíba (IFPB) Sousa campus, where they evaluated the effectiveness of methods alternatives in teaching-learning, where through questionnaires and through the performance evaluation in the game, obtained positive results, showing that the gamification in higher education contributes to the fixation of subjects and that through application there is a stimulus to learning in an unconventional way , allowing greater memorization of the contents.</p>