ApiCOWplexa 2013 – 2nd International Meeting on Apicomplexan Parasites in Farm Animals

Abstract

This special issue is dedicated to a group of protozoan parasites of outstanding economic importance, and originates from the 2nd International Meeting on Apicomplexan Parasites in Farm Animals (ApicCOWplexa 2013). The meeting took place in the Pine Bay Hotel in Kusadasi, Turkey, from 31 October to 2 November 2013, and was superbly organized by Prof. Tülin Karagenç and Huseyin Bilgin Bilgiç (Adnan Menderez University, Turkey). ApiCOWplexa 2013 was attended by 114 participants from 27 countries. A total of 48 scientific talks and 40 posters were presented, on different aspects of research on Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, Neospora, Sarcocystis, Besnoitia, Babesia and Theileria. These parasites cause important diseases and economic losses in the production of cattle, pork, poultry, sheep, goats, and are also important pathogens in pets, game and wild animals. Topics of the conference included epidemiology, genetic diversity and phylogeny, food safety aspects, animal models, functional genomics and transcriptomics, host-parasite interactions on the cellular and immunological levels, drugs and drug targets, the development of vaccines, and novel and improved tools for diagnosis. Pathogens mutate and can emerge in regions where they have not been seen before, and it is necessary that the methodologies for detection, surveillance, prevention, control and treatment also continue to evolve. Novel developments in the field allow for productive data mining, innovative laboratory methods, rapid and accurate diagnostics. From the public health point of view, all aspects are crucial to maintain, or even increase, the provision of safe food from farm animals. The broad attendance of Apiwoplexa2013 clearly reflects the need for networking between scientists that work on these organisms. Nevertheless, such networking activities, and research on parasitic food-borne diseases in particular, have been grossly underfunded for many years. More recently, the