Department of Veterinary Parasitology

Department of Veterinary Parasitology is functioning since the inception of college in 1958. The entire teaching faculties in the department are involved in Teaching Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PhD Courses. The department of Veterinary Parasitology has well established undergraduate laboratory with museum as per VCI and well immunological and molecular laboratory with good infrastructure to take up Post Graduate Research Programmes.

Initially Dept was headed by Dr. N. S. Krishna Rao and subsequently the responsibility of the department was carried by, Dr. K. S. Hegde, Dr. L. S. Hiregoudar, Dr. Abdul Rhman, who was the former Director of Instruction (Vety.), Dr. M. S. Jagannath, Dr. Placid E. D’Souza and Dr. P. M. Thimma Reddy and contributed a lot towards development of the department. Presently the Department is headed by Dr. K. J. Ananda.
Post graduation was started in 1974 By Dr. Hiregoudar and Dr. M. K. Sheshappa was first PG student of Veterinary Parasitology and 56 M.V.Sc completed. PhD program started in the year 1999-2000 till now 12 students were completed their PhD programmes from the Dept. of Veterinary Parasitology.

The ICAR Centre of Advanced Faculty Training in Veterinary Parasitology commenced in the VIII Five year planning 1995 and was continued to the XII plan in 2016. It is now under the HRD activity of the NARS for 2019-20.          The primary aim of the centre is capacity building by way of training faculty and also advanced research and development of instructional material. Thirty five training programmes as part of human resource development included training of 727 teachers / scientists from different parts of India.

Twenty two National Training Programmes on different topics have been conducted. The XXIII National Training Programme on “Different approaches for control of parasitic diseases of large and small ruminants” from 20th Nov-10th December 2019 is now being conducted. Fourteen training programmes have been conducted by this centre on   Epidemiology and control of parasitic diseases of livestock, Poultry and Pet animals. Thirty five M.V.Sc. and twelve Ph.D students have benefitted from the facilities of CAS/CAFT.

Thirty five Research Projects have been completed with CAS/CAFT funding resulting in the development of immunological tests, molecular studies and other techniques. The focal areas were on Taenia solium cysticercosis, anthelminitic/acaricide efficacy, Schistosomosis, Microfilariosis, Fasciolosis, Echinococcosis, Sarcocystosis, Trypanosomosis, Coccidiosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Culicoides, Toxoplasmosis, Biocontrol of  hornflies and ticks, Bovine and canine babesiosis, equine and pig parasites, Theileriosis in small ruminants, Fleas and larval trematodes, Cloning and expression of Theileria luwenshuni, Evaluation of acaricidal efficacy of plant extracts in control of ticks and Development of recombinant antigen for serodiagnosis of canine babesiosis. 

Thirty five compendia and practical manuals have been prepared on different topics in Parasitology. Practical manuals for undergraduate and postgraduate students have been developed by the centre. CAFT faculty members have been involved in more than 51 training programmes conducted by other departments and State level and National Institutions.

• The CAFT in the Dept. of Veterinary Parasitology has good library facilities, research infrastructure and training facilities.
• This centre is a reference unit for the identification of parasites of Veterinary and medical importance.
• It also provides consultation on the diagnosis, treatment and control of parasitic diseases.
• Training on different aspects of Parasitology is provided to Scientists/teachers/researchers from India and abroad.