Characterization of parasitic protozoa in Australia

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONMy area of specialization is clinical protozoology and I practice as a diagnostician; i.e.nI identify protozoan parasites in vertebrate hosts. My goal is to characterize those speciesnoccurring in Australia. My studies are deliberately parochial as our continent is simply thenlast great unexplored bastion for micro-fauna Little is known about protozoa in the gut,nblood and tissues of our unique native animals. I seek to define the morphology, biology,nphylogeny and pathogenicity of protozoan species endemic in Australian hosts, includingnsporozoa, ciliates, flagellates and amoebae in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish. My researchninvolves studying parasite form and function as well as host-parasite interactions resulting inndisease. I apply conventional and contemporary technologies to study organismal, cellularnand molecular biology, including light and electron microscopy, biochemical andnimmunological assays, protein profiling and nucleotide analyses.This thesis contains 100 scientific papers resulting from this work. It is divided intonfive parts, each dealing with a specific group of protozoan parasites and their hosts. Thenstudies were conducted over a period of 25 years in four different host organizations (Tablen1 ). My studies were dictated to some degree by the research priorities of my hostnorganizations and the availability of funds from various granting agencies. Nonetheless, thenmajor impetus for the studies was provided by the need for industry or government to addressntopical problems in public and animal health caused by endemic or emergent parasitoses.nStudies were conducted on cyst-forming sporozoa in domestic animals, enteric coccidia innhumans and animals, protozoa affecting aquaculture, endosymbiotic protozoa in herbivores,nemerging diseases and protozoal biodiversity.n n n n