PREFACE

Expectations that by the end of the 20th century the majority of parasitic diseases would be well under control have not materiaHzed. On the contrary, they continue to be weU estabHshed in aU developing countries, particularly among those, situated in the sub-tropical and tropical belts.

In industrial countries, many parasitic diseases had either spontaneously disappeared or had been eradicated. Until recently, remaining diseases did not cause a great concern for the public health in those countries. However, for the last two decades, such situation began deteriorate considerably, particularly in the countries of the Old World. There is a weU defined trend for re-estabUshment of malaria transmission in some countries ofEurope and Central Asia, where malaria was eradicated during the 1960s-70s. The process of importation of parasitic diseases from endemic countries is going on a large scale, being futher aggravated by the dramatic increase of opportunistic protozoan infections (like toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, pneumocystosis, visceral leishmaniasis etc.), associated with a reduction of immunity state of population due to HW epidemic, narcomania, ecological deterioration. This situation is being further complicated in many instances by the absence of professional knowledge and experience to deal with diagnosis and appropriate treatment of various parasitic diseases among local physicians.

AU the above-mentioned trends are particularly noticeable in large parts of Euro-Asian region, which constitutes the territory of the Russian Federation and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

It is obvious that the main barrier capable to neutralize an ever-increasing menace of parasitic diseases should be the personnel of the General Health

Services. It is the level of their professionahsm in relation to parasitic diseases that would determine the efficacy of the prevention of dinical sequences of various parasitic infections, both indigenous and imported. There are different ways to achieve this objective, one of the most important being the availabiUty of updated manuals and textbooks on clinical parasitology faciUtating medical personnel to advance their knowledge and skiU.

Available series of pubUcations on dinical parasitology in Europe and USA is being now completed by this book «CUnical Parasitology» in Russian. The authors of this book represent the group of experienced parasitologists and clini- dans from Russia and Italy, involved in training managed to successfuUy review the experience of the authors of previous pubUcations and supplement it with their own, as weU as to include new available information on the subjects.

It is hoped that this publication wiU be very useful to aU the physidans, involved in the prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases, and the students of medical xmiversities and coUeges can also use it.

Professor Enrico Garaci,

President, Instituto Superiore di Sanita Rome, Italy

January 22, 2002