Professor Michael Reichel, Chair Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, attended the 26th Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (4 to 8 September 2017). This is the premier gathering of veterinary parasitologists in the world and a great opportunity to network and catch up with latest trends.
During two presentations, there was an opportunity to highlight veterinary parasitology at City University and research collaborations with the University of Sydney, Australia.
In one, Prof Reichel revealed the high level of human pathogen carriage in fleas in Hong Kong, an issue that requires further research. In another talk, in research collaboration with the University of Sydney, a PhD student presented work on Neospora caninum infections in cattle and buffalo in Laos. Neosporosis in cattle is a multi-million dollar problem that causes abortions in bovids worldwide.
The conference also included a daylong Veterinary Parasitology Education forum, which featured different approaches to veterinary parasitology teaching around the globe.
Professor Reichel, in his role as Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious veterinary Parasitology journal also attended an editorial board meeting with Elsevier’s Journal manager and discussed plans for the next WAAVP meeting in 2019 in Madison, WI, USA.