Welcome to the most recent (2025) version of:
“PARA-SITE: an electronic guide to parasitology”
ISBN 978-1-74272-501-7
Produced as an educational initiative of the Australian Society of Parasitology (ASP), The University of Queensland (UQ), and the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). Developed and written by Professor Peter O’Donoghue, Faculty of Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia [p.odonoghue@uq.edu.au]
PARA-SITE provides basic information about parasites causing disease in animals and people. It covers information on:
- parasite morphology (fundamental to taxonomy);
- host range (species specificity);
- site of infection (tissue/organ tropism);
- parasite pathogenicity (disease potential);
- modes of transmission (spread of infections);
- differential diagnosis (detection of infections); and
- treatment and control (cure and prevention).
The resource is currently available on-line as a monograph, but exercise caution as it is 3,060 pages long and the pdf file is 325 MB. The ASP is preparing a more user-friendly version to be made available as some 265 individual chapters as smaller pdf files to be accessed through the ASP website (scheduled for late 2025). As a teaser, the Table of Contents reads as follows:
Foreword, p3.
Introduction to parasitology p10.
Overview p11.
Mathematical models p21.
Taxonomy p36.
Protozoan parasites p50.
Amoebae p60.
Flagellates p94.
Apicomplexa p309.
Ciliates p618.
Ascetospora p755.
Microspora p783.
Myxozoa p828.
Helminth parasites p994.
Nematodes p1010.
Acanthocephala p1694.
Cestodes p1716.
Digenea p1865.
Monogenea p2020.
Arthropod parasites p2069.
Lice p2080.
Bugs p2176.
Fleas p2200.
Flies p2271.
Ticks p2593.
Mites p2755.
Crustaceans p2942.
Pentastomes p2975.
Diagnostic parasitology p2994.
Symptomatology p3001.
Direct detection p3003.
Indirect demonstration p3019.
Parasite control p3028.
Drugs p3029.
Vaccines p3037.
Management p3048.
Index p3058.
To obtain a copy of the monograph:
Access TROVE [www.trove.nla.gov.au] using internet browser
Search Books and Libraries using search term PARA-SITE
Scroll down to PARA-SITE: an electronic guide to parasitology
Select Read which takes you to:
Free access National edeposit Book 2025
Click on National edeposit and wait for it to load onto their reader (approx 1 min)
To obtain your own copy of the monograph:
Scroll down left side of reader to: download symbol
click start and wait for download of zip file (approx 1 min)
Access downloads on your computer, select nla.obj-3633898248.zip
unzip to obtain pdf of monograph nla.obj-3633898248-1.pdf
The material contained in PARA-SITE is provided free of copyright to facilitate the broadest possible distribution amongst users.
Enjoy!


