Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it

Dear Colleagues,

The evolutionary success of parasitism is directly related to the huge number of species that have evolved this way of life. Such success could be explained by the mechanisms evolved by these species to confront and evade the responses of their hosts, together with their capacity to adapt the metabolic processes of their hosts for their own benefit. In regards to veterinary parasitology, these adaptations may result in chronic infections that cause disease in animals resulting in loss of production, suffering and even death. In addition, due to the zoonotic potential of a considerable number of parasites, many parasitic diseases of veterinary importance are currently considered as important public health problems. The global market for antiparasitic drugs has been estimated at more than 3,000 million USD annually. Moreover, the development of drug resistance in protozoan and helminth parasites of veterinary interest has been increasingly reported. The substitution of drugs by other means (e.g., vaccination) for the control of parasitic diseases in animals would have an important impact in the improvement of the quality and food safety, since the recombinant vaccines do not leave residues in food of animal origin. Regrettably and despite their worldwide relevance, the vaccination approaches against parasites carried out so far, have not given the expected results. It has been widely suggested that the lack of knowledge regarding the underlying biological, biochemical and immunological components from the host-parasite interface represents one of the main reasons that could explain that currently not many targets have been successfully developed into vaccines against parasites. Consequently, the main objective of this Special Issue is to shed light on the cross-talk interactions between parasites of veterinary importance and their host as a fundamental step for the future development of more effective vaccines or for the characterization of new therapeutic targets for the control of these parasitic diseases.

Dr. Javier González-Miguel
Guest Editor

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