News

New article with videos “Mate locating and access behaviour of the parasitic pea crab, Nepinnotheres novaezelandiae, an important parasite of the mussel Perna canaliculus”

Details

Published on 17 March 2015

In their article, Oliver Trottier and Andrew G. Jeffs explain when, why and how the male pea crabs get into the mussel. When? At night. Why? Because they are searching for a female, of course! How? By gently stroking the mantle edge of the mussel, thus causing it to open.

This article is illustrated with 3 infrared videos, showing the different steps.

Abstract

“Pea crabs are globally ubiquitous symbionts in the marine environment that cause serious economic impact in the aquaculture production of several major bivalve species. However, little is known about their host-parasite interactions, especially the mating behaviour of these parasites that could prove useful for controlling their infestation in aquaculture. In this study, the mate location behaviour of male New Zealand pea crabs, Nepinnotheres novaezelandiae (Filhol, 1885), was observed when dwelling in its preferred host, the commercially important green-lipped mussel, Perna canaliculus.”

Discover this article and its 3 videos, and enter the world of 50 shades of green via the infrared videos…

Meet Alessandro Massolo and Stefano Liccioli, authors in Parasite, on Canadian TV

Details

Published on 02 March 2015

Alessandro Massolo and Stefano Liccioli are the authors of the review "Echinococcus multilocularis in North America: the great unknown", which was published in the topical volume of Parasite "Innovation for the Management of Echinococcosis".

Over the last decade, studies have begun to shed light on the distribution and genetic characterization of Echinococcus multilocularis, the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis (AE), in North America. In their review, they present the available data on E. multilocularis infections in wild and domestic animals and humans in North America and emphasize the lack of knowledge on the distribution of the parasite in wild and domestic hosts. Recent findings indicate that the parasite is likely expanding its range in the central region of the United States and Canada and that invasions of European strains might have occurred.

Their work has been featured on:

• CTVNews.ca
  Alessandro Massolo and Stefano Liccioli interviewed as part of a report on Echinococcus multilocularis in coyotes and the possible risk to humans.
• CBCNews Calgary
  Information on coyote infection rates, human infection routes, and prevention strategies.
• CTV Edmonton
  Focus on transmission by pets and alveolar echinococcosis in humans.

Parasite Now available on ePUB format! (February 2015)

Details

Published on 17 February 2015

EDP Sciences is pleased to announce the introduction of the ePUB digital format for all Parasite articles.

We have extended our existing suite of publication formats (PDF, HTML) to include ePUB, offering a range of formats to suit our readers varying needs.

ePUB is a format used for digital documents, it will allow scientific articles to be read on most of specialized eReaders and tablets.

The ePUB version will allow to download scientific texts and to read them very easily in an offline environment. ePUB adapts to suit different screen sizes, making for optimum text display and greater reading comfort.

New review article “An update on Acanthamoeba keratitis: diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment”, by Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, Naveed A. Khan and Julia Walochnik (February 2015)

Details

Published on 17 February 2015

At the occasion of the ICOPA XIII congress, which was held in August 2014 in Mexico, selected authors were invited to publish papers in the Open Access peer-reviewed journal Parasite. A review on Acanthamoeba keratitis was chosen.

This high-quality 20-page review, with several original figures, deals with a worldwide increase in parasitic human infection. The three authors, Jacob Lorenzo-Morales (University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain), Naveed A. Khan (Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan) and Julia Walochnik (Medical University of Vienna, Austria) present their current understanding on eye infections by amoebas, based on their long experience as leading scientists for this parasitic disease.

Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are causal agents of a severe sight-threatening infection of the cornea known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. The number of reported cases worldwide is increasing every year, mostly in contact lens wearers. Acanthamoeba keratitis has remained significant despite the advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy and supportive care. Altogether, this review may serve as the milestone for developing an effective solution for the prevention, control and treatment of Acanthamoeba infections.

Parasite being an open-access journal published under a Creative Commons licence (CC 4.0), the text and the figures can be freely re-used, provided that the source is correctly cited.

Abstracts in four languages for new paper for the prevention of echinococcosis in remote communities (December 2014)

Details

Published on 28 November 2014

Proper disposal of carcasses and offal after home slaughter is difficult in poor and remote communities and therefore dogs readily have access to hydatid cysts containing offal from livestock, thus completing the parasite cycle of the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus and putting communities at risk of cystic echinococcosis.

The new paper by Li et al. proposes a very simple way to eliminate this threat to public health: boiling livers and lungs for 30 minutes. This could be an efficient and cheap complement to other veterinary public health operations to control cystic echinococcosis.

This paper is part of the topical issue of Parasite “Innovation for the Management of Echinococcosis.” Invited editors: Dominique A. Vuitton, Laurence Millon, Bruno Gottstein and Patrick Giraudoux.

Because this paper contains information that could be useful not only to specialists, but also to physicians, veterinarians and the general public in countries infested with echinococcosis, including remote communities, the abstract of the paper is published in four languages: English, French, Chinese and Arabic. The paper is also illustrated by three full-page illustrations. Since the paper is fully open access and free to download, we expect it to be read by a wide audience in infested countries.

Boiling sheep liver or lung for 30 minutes is necessary and sufficient to kill Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces in hydatid cysts
Parasite 2014, 21, 64

Celebrating 20 Years of Parasite (October 2014)

Details

Published on 14 October 2014

This year Parasite is celebrating its 20^th anniversary. All issues of Parasite, published from 1994 up to now, are freely available on the journal’s website. Sponsored by the SFP (Société Française de Parasitologie), more than 1.220 articles can be downloaded on Parasite’s website at:

http://www.parasite-journal.org/component/issues/

All articles now have a DOI number, to identify content better and provide a persistent link to their location.

Parasite is an international open-access, peer-reviewed, online journal publishing high-quality papers on all aspects of human and animal parasitology. It is indexed in major databases, such as BIOSIS Previews, CAB International, Cambridge Scientific Abstract, Current Contents - Life Sciences, MEDLINE, PubMed, Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded and Zoological Record.

All papers published since 2011 are available not only from the publisher's website, but also from repositories such as PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central, in various formats including PDF, ePub and PubReader.

This very modern and dynamic journal has managed to grow over the years. All published articles are available electronically. When subscribing to the email alert program, the subscriber will receive an email alert each time new articles are published online. Otherwise, the latest news, latest published articles and the most read articles, as well as tweets from the journal's Twitter account (@ParasiteJournal)

The new Impact Factor of Parasite (September 2014)

Details

Published on 29 September 2014

What is the reason for this?

Simply because the Impact Factor is calculated two to three years after papers are published. What we see now with the “2013 Impact Factor” (published in 2014) are the results for citations of papers published in 2011 and 2012. See Table:

Red: new online edition of Parasite.

What does this mean for Parasite?

In 2012, the French Society of Parasitology, owner of Parasite, decided to change the publisher (now EDPS), to nominate a new Editorial Board, and to replace the former print version with a new open-access online-only edition. Does the new lower Impact Factor mean that these were not the right choices? Certainly not. The new IF shows that we were right in making all these changes, because what we see now with the lower IF is the consequence of the failure of the print edition in 2011 and 2012.

Is the IF likely to improve?

We have evidence that papers in the new online edition are already cited more than their equivalents in the former print edition. As of 15 September 2014, three papers published in 2013 have already scored respectively 7, 5 and 4 citations in ISI, and many have been cited more than once (i.e. they already provide an Impact Factor higher than 1). However, in 2015 the Impact Factor will still bear the weight of the last year of the print version (see Table).

Is Parasite a better journal than before?

We believe so, and we are striving to achieve more. Papers in Parasite are immediately indexed in PubMed, often the same day they are published. All papers are available from the website of the journal and from PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central. Several papers have been viewed more than 1,000 times. All papers are subject to a strict peer-review process, and our rejection rate is about 50%. More than 100 new manuscripts have already been submitted this year (September 2014), by scientists from all over the world.

Thank you to all our authors and reviewers. We work to honour the aim of Parasite: “An international open-access, peer-reviewed, online journal publishing high quality papers on all aspects of human and animal parasitology”.

A review of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in North Africa, by Karim Aoun and Aida Bouratbine (Institut Pasteur, Tunis, Tunisia)

Details

Published on 14 March 2014

In North African countries, cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission has been increasing since the 80s, with a significant increase in the incidence of cases and a spread of the geographical distribution. Cutaneous leishmaniasis currently represents a major public health problem with a productivity gap and an impediment for development, which results in dramatic socioeconomic and psycho-sanitary impacts. The review includes a map of the occurrence of the three Leishmania species involved in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.

The review is in English with English, French and Arabic abstracts. As Parasite is an open-access journal under a Creative Commons licence, the text and the figures can be freely re-used, provided that the source is correctly cited.

Special issue: CAPARA (January 2014)

Details

Published on 17 January 2014

Parasite will soon publish a selection of the best papers coming from both "the 7^th International Conference on the Novel Approaches (NA) to the Control of Helminth" and from the joint special session of COST Action CAPARA ("Goat-Parasite Interactions: From  Knowledge To Control")  dedicated  to caprine production :

• CAPARA website
• 7^th Conference on the “novel approaches to the control of helminth parasites of livestock” website

New, improved Impact Factor for 2012 (June 2013)

Details

Published on 25 June 2013

The new, improved, Impact Factor for Parasite is 1.116.

Note that this new Impact factor was computed from citations in 2012 and thus does not take into account the changes of Parasite in 2013 (new publisher, new website, new editorial board, open-access).