Mission:
To reduce the economic cost of parasitism in livestock and poultry and to reduce the risk of transmission of parasite zoonoses to humans. Emphasis is placed on developing integrated control programs for important parasitic diseases. Research includes basic and applied studies on mechanisms of parasite transmission, the infection process, parasite development and host-parasite interactions; the development of novel methods for parasite control, such as parasite vaccines and non-chemical anti-parasitics; and the diagnosis and control of livestock parasites transmissible to humans, to develop new information and concepts for parasite biodiversity and systematics; the U.S. National Parasite Collection acquires specimens and curates critical collections.