Page 5 - Medical Parasitology_ A Textbook ( PDFDrive )

Foreword

My heartfelt congratulations to the authors, Professor Dr. Rohela Mahmud, Professor
Dr. Yvonne Ai-Lian Lim and Dr. Amirah Amir, for bringing out this textbook on
medical parasitology. Why you may ask another textbook on medical parasitology
when so many already exist? The answer is simple. Most of the textbooks until
recently have been written by western authors on an academic slant without consid-
ering the actual reality and needs of students and researchers in endemic countries of
Asia-Pacific or other regions. As the authors rightly point out, the study of medical
parasitology is indeed daunting to the uninitiated, and this book aims to promote an
easy yet comprehensive way of learning the subject.
Like the authors, I have been teaching medical parasitology to medical and non-
medical students in Malaysia as well as in Southeast Asia for the past four decades,
and there was no “one” reference book that I could recommend to students on issues
related to parasitic infections in the Asia-Pacific and in particular the south-east region.
This book—well written and comprehensive—fills that gap. It will be a useful book
not just to medical students but to medical scientists, clinicians, veterinary scientists,
biologists, researchers and public health workers in tropical medicine.
This book integrates available information on parasitic diseases in the Asia-
Pacific region through reader-friendly illustrations, case reports, diagnostic
methodologies, treatment and preventive methods. With the emphasis given on
the global elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) by the World Health
Organization (WHO) which affects millions of people, especially the poor in the
developing world, I hope this book will help to contribute knowledge towards
prevention, control, treatment and elimination of parasitic diseases in this region
as well as globally.
Once again, my congratulations to the authors in bringing out this book at this
timely moment.
Emeritus Dato Dr. C.P. Ramachandran
Academician Professor
Retired Chief of Filariasis Research and Control
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland

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