Parasites and Parasitic Diagnostics

Parasites constitute a diverse highly extremely successful group of organisms, ranging from single-celled protozoa to multicellular helminths. In laboratory rodents, parasitic infections may be commonly found. Often, infections may be asymptomatic, although clinical infections are not uncommon. More importantly, parasites have profound modulatory effects on the host immune system and microbiome, which may drastically confound experimental studies within many fields of biomedicine. For this reason, routine monitoring of rodent facilities for common parasites is warranted. In this chapter, the biology and life cycles of common rodent parasites are reviewed, as well as the most widely used diagnostic techniques. Future perspectives on the monitoring and control of parasites in experimental rodent facilities are discussed.