Teaching Veterinary Parasitology

Abstract

Before writing this paper we read the excellent article by Weinstein' which dealt with the teaching of parasitology in the United States and discussed the need to depart from traditional courses and use an interdisciplinary approach in order to capture the imagination of the young undergraduate. This is easier to implement in general parasitology courses than in a specialised curriculum for training veterinary or medical students. Time constraints and the breadth of important information in the latter determine that parasitology cannot be taught by using only a few examples of the various classes and dealing with them in depth. The dilemma faced by instructors in veterinary parasitology is how to marry the effective teaching of the subject as a useful and practical discipline with all the factual data that goes along with this, while also providing an imaginative insight into the basic biological phenomena of the host–parasite relationship. The biological complexity of a single organism may approach that of its host; where is the line drawn?