The present book deals with the biology of a wide range of coccidia of numerous genera including Emeria, Isospora, Sarcocystis, Toxoplasma, Caryospora, and Cryptosporidium. The book will be valuable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, research workers, and teachers in biology, especially useful for parasitologists teaching the subject and essential for coccidiologists doing research on coccidia. The book has also an appeal for physicians, veterinarians, and zoologists needing an update of information in the general field of coccidiosis

Coccidiosis is one of the most important diseases of livestock, particularly poultry, with billions of dollars spent on prevention worldwide. The disease is so important and pervasive that until recently, all poultry feed was medicated with coccidiostats, mainly antibiotics. With the rapid development of drug resistance, the search is on for alternative methods of control of coccidiosis in poultry. With chapters authored by internationally renowned scientists, this book covers coccidiosis in all major livestock species, including cattle, sheep, and goats. Special emphasis is given to poultry coccidiosis given the significant economic impact, and another chapter looks at intestinal coccidiosis in humans, including Cyclospora. Chapters discuss techniques, molecular biology, host-pathogen immunobiology and immunoprophylaxis, genetics and genomics, biology, and chemotherapy. Despite an explosion of research in the last 40 years, there has been no new book published discussing conventional coccidiosis for more than 25 years. This comprehensive review therefore answers an urgent need for a book dealing exclusively with conventional coccidia (Cystoisospora, Cyclospora). It provides concise, authoritative, up-to-date information on coccidiosis, with particular attention given to research in the last 28 years. This book is essential reading for any practitioner or researcher involved in livestock production, including biologists, veterinarians, parasitologists, and researchers from government, academia, and industry.

The aim of this open access book is to facilitate the identification and description of the different organs as well as pathogens and diseases affecting the most representative species of cephalopods focussed on Sepia officinalis, Loligo vulgaris and Octopus vulgaris. These species are valuable ‘morphotype’ models and belong to the taxonomic groups Sepioidea, Myopsida and Octopoda, which include most of the species with a high market value and aquaculture potential. The study is based on photographs at macroscopic and histological level in order to illustrate the role of the most important pathogens and related diseases from the view of a pathological diagnosis. The reader is able to familiarize with functional anatomy, necropsy and general histology of adults and paralarvae, as well as with the identification of different pathogens and pathologies. This work is thus an invaluable guide for the diagnosis of cephalopod diseases. Besides including pathogens for non-European cephalopod species, it also provides a useful contribution encouraging marine pathologists, parasitologists, veterinarians and those involved in fishery sanitary assessments, aquarium maintenance and aquaculture practices aiming to increase their knowledge about the pathology of cephalopods.

The fundamental concept of The Biology and Identification of the Coccidia (Apicomplexa) of Carnivores of the World is to provide an up-to-date reference guide to the identification, taxonomy, and known biology of apicomplexan intestinal and tissue parasites of carnivores including, but not limited to, geographic distribution, prevalence, sporulation, prepatent and patent periods, site(s) of infection in the definitive and (if known) intermediate hosts, endogenous development, cross-transmission, pathology, phylogeny, and (if known) their treatments. These data will allow easy parasite recognition with a summation of virtually everything now known about the biology of each parasite species covered. The last (very modest) and only treatise published on this subject was in 1981 so this book fills a fundamental gap in our knowledge of what is now known, and what is not, about the coccidian parasites that infect and sometimes kill carnivores and/or their prey that can harbor intermediate stages, including many domestic and game animals. Offers line drawings and photomicrographs of many parasite species that will allow easy diagnosis and identification by both laypersons and professionals (veterinarians, wildlife biologists, etc.) Presents a complete historical rendition of all known publications on carnivore coccidia for all carnivore families and evaluates the scientific and scholarly merit of each apicomplexan species relative to the current body of knowledge Provides a complete species analysis and their known biology of all coccidia described from each carnivore lineage and species Reviews the most current taxonomy of carnivores and their phylogenetic relationships to help assess host-specificity patterns that may be apparent Evaluates what little cross-transmission work is available to help understand the complexities of those coccidians that use two hosts (e.g., Sarcocystis, Besnoitia, and others) Provides known treatments for the various parasite genera/species