BSC 424 / 524 ANIMAL PARASITOLOGY; SYLLABUS, SPRING 2012

Transcription

1 BSC 424 / 524 ANIMAL PARASITOLOGY; SYLLABUS, SPRING 2012 Instructor: James E. Joy, Ph. D. Off. 265 Science Bldg. Ph: joy@marshall.edu Off. Hrs. 8:30 to 11:00 AM, Tu Thurs 4 Credit Hour course. Meeting times; Tu Th 5:00 PM to 5:50 PM (lecture), and Tu Th lab 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM. Text: Roberts & Janovy, Foundations of Parasitology, 7 th Ed., McGraw-Hill (Note: The text doubles as a quite good laboratory manual). Course Overview: Few of us realize that parasitism is an highly successful survival strategy, as evidenced by the fact that; parasitic organisms far outnumber non-parasitic ones (Science, 24 June 1994). Thus any given species of vertebrate animal is a potential source of sustenance for many parasitic forms (e.g., humans host more than 100 species of eukaryotic parasitic organisms alone). Parasites are the causative (i.e., etiologic) agents for many of the world s most intractable human diseases (e.g.; malaria, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, filariasis, amoebic dysentery). And we may experience an increase in the incidence of those diseases because global warming trends provide added aquatic habitats for arthropods and snails that serve as the transmitting agents (i.e., vectors) of such etiologic agents. Parasites also play an important role in the practice of veterinary medicine, here in the United States, and elsewhere. And we examine that role, including in our discussion the effects parasitic diseases have on regulating wildlife populations. Diseases in wildlife populations often affects humans because wildlife animals often harbor parasites that can be transmitted to humans (i.e., zoonotic diseases). For example, giardiasis, the number one waterborne gasterointestinal disease in the United States where the etiologic agent can be identified, commonly resides in the intestinal tracts of beavers and other mammals. This reservoir animal concern is great enough in West Virginia for the state to have developed a Zoonosis Task Force under the aegis of the Division of Surveillance and Disease Control in the WV Department of Health and Human Resources. Your text emphasizes that it is; naïve to try to control an infection without knowledge of how the infectious agent, in this case the parasite, reproduces and gets from one host to another. Because of that fundamental feature of parasite epidemiology, this course examines the need to bring together the often complex interplay between host, parasite, vector, and reservoir host, in disease transmission. And, as we will learn, epidemiology does not stop there; ancillary professionals engineers, physicians, anthropologists, economists and others according to the particular situation are all necessary for developing a thorough understanding of the disease profile for any endemic or epidemic situation. Ecologists and environmental biologists have an important role to play in the study of parasites, and these scientists should be acutely aware of how human activities affect parasitic disease. In addition to human-induced global warming affects on parasitic disease, we ve also experienced significant increases of schistosomiasis after the construction of dams in Egypt and Ghana, West Africa (the Aswan High Dam and Volta River Dam, respectively). And in Brazil, where the World Bank loaned the Brazilian government funds to pave highways into the Amazon region to settle poor urban workers for farming, malaria increased and spread to new geographic areas as workers returned to the cities after their farms had failed.

2 Learning Objectives: The aim of this course is to provide students in lecture and laboratory settings with the skills to identify various parasitic animals by their morphology (i.e., diagnosis), the pathologies they induce, and their modes of transmission. Content: To gain an overall understanding of parasitic animals in terms of: The relation between morphology, physiology and habitat; The function of major organ systems in various groups; Their life histories (i.e., strategies for survival feeding, reproduction, excretion, sensory perception of their environment); Routes of transmission (i.e., principles of epidemiology/epizootiology); The resulting pathologies and host s immunologic responses; and Surveillance and control methodologies. Critical Thinking: To improve students ability to think critically about the role(s) of parasitic animals in the ecosystem; especially their role(s ) in human and animal disease, and their regulation of host populations. Lecture: Lecture sessions generally make up a third of any given scheduled class period. The course begins with introductory remarks on animal associations (i.e., symbioses) and some basic epidemiologic and immunologic principles. After those introductory sessions we begin by examining the protozoans and systematically following the text through various groups of helminths. Lab: The purpose of the laboratory sessions is really quite straightforward; to actually see organisms that we have talked about in lecture sessions. This observation experience will be presented through PowerPoint and/or 35 mm slide presentations, hands-on microscopic work, and, when the opportunity presents, actual dissection of host animals. Microscopic work is especially important as it provides the student first hand experience at diagnosing various parasitic diseases in a diagnostic laboratory setting. It is, for example, essential for one to be able to differentiate between the various species, or kinds, of human malaria; the difference between pathogenic and non-pathogenic amoebas, etc.). Exams: There will be three major exams 1) protozoans, 2) flatworm helminths, 3) nematodes and acanthocephalans -- through the course of the semester. Since lecture and laboratory studies are closely integrated each exam will cover both lecture and laboratory material that has been presented in class. Note: All make-up exams will be given on a study day during final exam week; the time being agreed to by the student(s) involved, and the instructor. Grading: Exam I 100 pts (lecture) 40 pts (lab) Exam II 100 pts (lecture) 40 pts (lab) Exam III 120 pts (combined lecture and lab) Total 320 pts + 80 pts lab = % to 100% of Total points = A 80% to 89.9% of Total points = B

3 70% to 79.9% of Total points = C 60% to 69.9% of Total points = D < 60% of Total points = F Note: Students enrolled in BSC 524 will have additional exam questions, such that the scoring will be: Exam I 110 pts (lecture) 45 pts (lab) Exam II 110 pts (lecture) 45 pts (lab) Exam III 130 pts (combined lecture and lab) Total 360 pts + 90 pts lab = % to 100% of Total points = A 80% to 89.9% of Total points = B 70% to 79.9% of Total points = C 60% to 69.9% of Total points = D < 60% of Total points = F Attendance Policy: There is none; you are adults and able to determine what is in your best educational interests (and you ve paid for the class sessions, but I digress). I offer, however, one observation, based on 37 years of teaching a variety of classes populated by both undergraduate and graduate students. And that is that grades are HIGHLY correlated with class attendance. You may get by on the notes of classmates taken in your absence in a few instances, but there is no substitute for your own notes, hearing the lectures, examining and discussing the materials studied in lab. I cannot overemphasize the fact that grades are HIGHLY correlated with class attendance..oh, I said that (but redundancy is not always a bad thing). And remember, we practice the Fair Game Blackboard Rule, which is, that if I write something on the blackboard (even if you ve left lab early) it is Fair Game on an exam. Electronic Devices: The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (and many others too, I m confident) require that all electronic devices (i.e., calculators, laptop and handheld computers, instant messaging devices, PDA s, cell phones, pagers, data-bank watches, etc.) be turned off during performances. It is a good rule because such devices can be disruptive to the performers and to those seeking to enjoy the performance. Because it is a good rule it will be applied in our classroom setting to curtail disruption while we are studying. Each violation of this rule will cost you (e.g., 2 points will be deducted from each lecture exam score for the first infraction; 5 points for each infraction thereafter). Goals of the Course: In these days of modern biology more and more students are graduating from our institutions without any instruction on parasitic animals beyond what they have gleaned from sections of lectures (and part of one lab) in introductory biology. As a result, this may be your only exposure to a thorough treatment of the extensive diversity of the animal kingdom. My objective in teaching this class is to ensure that you learn to appreciate this biological diversity, and learn how to identify animals, based on certain key features, even if you have not seen them before. This skill, this knowledge, will broaden your appreciation of those organisms that make

4 up our ecosystems. Or to put it as a former professor of mine at Texas A&M did some years ago, to wit: If you know everything about vertebrate animals, you will know about 2% of the organisms that share this planet with us. Miscellaneous: If you have a learning disability and require special teaching or testing conditions, please see the instructor during the first week of class so that the appropriate arrangements can be made. And one Final Note: This syllabus is provided as a guide for the convenience of the student. It does not constitute a legally binding contract between the student and the instructor. Engaged students often ask questions that are not a part of the syllabus, or some current event takes place that cries out for discussion. I try to accommodate such questioning/discussion, encourage it in fact, and so we cannot be locked into a rigid system of compliance when there is a need for critical discussion as well as critical thinking. As a result, the instructor reserves the right to change the lecture/lab sequence and exam dates (with the exception of the third Final Exam) during the course of the semester. Any such changes will be announced in class, giving students sufficient time to make the necessary accommodations. Lecture/Lab Subject Schedule: Date Class Topic(s) 10 Jan Intro. Remarks; Terminology; Symbioses 12 Epidemiology, immunology, types of hosts; types of parasites 17 Kinetoplastida (trypanosomes & leishmanias) 19 Trichomonads, Giardia, and related forms 24 The amoebas; amoebic dysentery, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis 26 Gregarines & coccidians (including toxoplasmosis) 31 Malaria; history, falciparum v. vivax diagnosis, pathology, transmission, economic impact, control 2 Feb Other blood pathogens (piroplasms, hemogregarines, leucocytozoons) 7 Ciliates; review; mock laboratory exam 9 PROTOZOAN EXAMS (lecture and lab) 14 Intro. To Flatworms; monogeneans 16 Continue monogeneans & aspidogastreans 21 Digenetic trematodes 23 Digenetic trematodes (with emphasis on schistosomiasis) 28 Monozoic tapeworms Polyzoic tapeworms of cold-blooded hosts (with emphasis on pathology and epidemiology of the bass tapeworm) 1 Mar Polyzoic tapeworms of warm-blooded animals 6 Flatworm Review 8 FLATWORM EXAMS (lecture and lab)

5 13 Intro. to pseudocoelomates; The acanthocephalans 15 The nematodes; intro and diagnostic features 20 Spring Break 22 Spring Break 27 Trichurids (whipworms), dioctophymids, capillarids & trichinosis 29 Rhabditids and strongyles (emphasis on horse strongyles) 3 Apr Hookworms (of both human and animals of veterinary importance) 5 Ascarids (humans; ascariasis, anisakiasis) 10 Ascarids (other than human); visceral larval migrans 12 Filarial worms; (emphasis on onchocerciasis or river blindness) 17 Filarial worms; (emphasis on elephantiasis and dog heartworm 19 African Guinea worm; camallanids, spiurids 24 Spiurids continued 26 Dracunculids.. and Review 1 May PSEUDOCOELOMATE EXAM (beginning at 2:00 PM)