Veterinary Parasitology Research Group, The University of Sydney

28/04/2026

🌍 Call for Papers: One Health Special Issue – Fascioliasis 🐄🪱

Nichola and Carolina are excited to be guest editing a second special issue focused on “Fascioliasis: Novel Priorities in a Changing World”, bringing a One Health lens to one of the world’s most important (and evolving) parasitic diseases.

This issue will highlight emerging research across human, livestock, wildlife, and environmental systems, with a focus on how climate change, land use, agricultural intensification, and socio-economic pressures are reshaping transmission, distribution, and disease burden globally.

Interdisciplinary contributions spanning the following topics are encouraged:
🔬 Biology, epidemiology, and host–parasite interactions
🌱 Snail ecology and environmental drivers
🧬 Diagnostics, genomics, and drug resistance
🌏 Surveillance, zoonotic risk, and integrated control strategies

If you’re working on Fasciola hepatica, F. gigantica, or hybrid/introgressed forms, we’d love to see your work contribute to this global conversation.

📄 Submissions now open! Join us in shaping sustainable, collaborative approaches to fascioliasis in a changing world.

📸 Photo taken by Nichola during her own Honours project in Cambodia waaaay back in 2015!

Australian Society for Parasitology Liver fluke in Australian livestock Irish Society for Parasitology

28/04/2026

🎓 Celebrating our 2025 AVBS Honours graduates! 🎓

Last week we had the joy of celebrating the graduation of our wonderful 2025 AVBS Honours students: Priscilla Huynh, Chloe Burden, Olivia Kelly, Danielle Oste, Gurnoor Kaur, and Jaisy Chong.

We absolutely loved having this fantastic group in the lab last year. They brought so much energy, curiosity, hard work, and enthusiasm to their projects, and we are incredibly proud of everything they have achieved.

A special congratulations to Olivia Kelly and Danielle Oste, who were both awarded University Medals - an outstanding achievement! We’re also excited to share that Priscilla Huynh will be staying on with us to undertake her PhD, Olivia Kelly has been accepted into the DVM at the University of Sydney, and Chloe Burden has been accepted into the DVM at the University of Melbourne.

Congratulations to all six of you. It has been a privilege to be part of your Honours journey, and we wish you all the very best for your exciting futures ahead! 🌟

📸 Some happy snaps from the celebrations below. Jaisy's cat stole the show!



Australian Society for Parasitology

23/04/2026

📣 Call for Papers: Special Issue in Parasitology 🪱

We’re excited to share that Dr. Carolina De Marco Verissimo and our very own Dr. Nichola Calvani are guest editing an upcoming special issue in Parasitology (Cambridge University Press) focused on liver fluke epidemiology.

This issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research spanning field epidemiology, host–parasite dynamics, environmental drivers, and emerging challenges such as climate change and drug resistance.

If you’re working on Fasciola in livestock, wildlife, or humans, we’d love to see your work!

📄 Submissions now open! Help us build a global picture of this important (and often underestimated) parasite.

📸 Photo taken during AVBS student Priscilla Huynh’s snail seasonality project in the NSW Southern Tablelands in 2025

Irish Society for Parasitology Australian Society for Parasitology WAAVP Liver fluke in Australian livestock

07/04/2026

A great opportunity for any early- or mid-career scientists wanting to attend this year's Australian Society for Parasitology conference but facing financial barriers! Apply now and we'll see you on the Gold Coast 🏄🪱

02/04/2026

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 🗞️🐑🪱

Two weeks ago, we headed back to Gunning for our annual farmer info day — our favourite way to close the circle on the year’s research by bringing results straight back to the people who make this work possible. We had 30+ farmers in the room, plus local vets, diagnosticians, industry representatives, Local Land Services agents (and a reporter from The Land) — all keen to talk parasites, paddocks, and what the data actually means for decisions on-farm.

A huge thanks to Roger Willoughby from Gunning Water & Ag Solutions for making it all possible. The day covered a bit of everything: Priscilla Huynh shared updates from her snail project (because if you want to understand liver fluke risk, you have to understand snails), while Nichola and Emily gave updates about their broader liver fluke and drug-resistant livestock nematode projects. We also loved hearing from Renata Muylaert and Tatiana Proboste from the Disease Ecology Lab, who gave a great introduction to their work on zoonotic and invasive diseases and pests, including feral pigs, which have rapidly emerged as a significant issue in the region.

We then finished the day off with a live liver dissection to educate farmers on how to find these pesky parasites. As Nichola says "While worm tests and routine monitoring are absolutely essential to your parasite control programs, there's nothing quicker, dirtier, or cheaper than actually just cutting an animal open, if it's gone down, and seeing what's inside it." Matt Playford from Dawbuts then provided some excellent insight into parasite diagnostics and control before we headed out to the field to set up some camera traps for our next exciting projects!

A big thank you again to everyone who came along, asked sharp questions, and helped keep the conversation practical, constructive, and future-focused! Stay tuned for updates on this year's projects as they become available.

New research has challenged old beliefs about pests and parasites.

12/03/2026

If you’ve ever driven along Parramatta Road and barely noticed the McMaster Building, you’re not alone. And if you’re a student who’s worked there on a research project, or a 4th year vet student on rotation and thought of it as “just another building on campus”, fair enough! On a campus full of beautiful buildings, it’s easy to overlook.

But inside those walls is an extraordinary amount of Australian (and global) parasitology history. Nearly 100 years ago, this building came into existence because of a bold and generous idea: Sir Frederick McMaster, a grazier, funded the creation of the F.D. McMaster Animal Health Laboratory to link livestock production with science and education, and to solve problems that mattered on farms. For many years, the laboratory sat within the national science system under the stewardship of what became the CSIRO, helping build Australia’s capability in animal health and parasitology. Over time, that baton passed into University ownership, where the Vet School has continued to carry the McMaster legacy forward.

And the building’s influence isn’t just historical, it’s embedded in the everyday methods of parasitology. Techniques that are still used globally today were developed here and even named after this very building. The most obvious is the world-famous McMaster faecal egg count, a simple but powerful method that transformed how we measure worms, monitor control programs, and assess drug efficacy.

On Tuesday evening, after the Fasciolosis Workshop, we had the joy of celebrating that legacy with a parasitologist reunion and the unveiling of new hallway exhibits. The evening included tours through the current parasite laboratories (including a look at MPhil student Hayley DeCristi’s liver flukes), time admiring the foyer museum, and a very special unveiling of Sally Pope’s scientific drawings from the 1980s; exquisite work that reminds you how much careful observation (and artistry) has always been part of this discipline. We also spent time swapping stories from “the old days”, including reflections on Hugh Gordon, the longest-standing member of the McMaster Building.

We've provided two of the six posters produced about the legacy of the McMaster Building here, but to see the rest you'll have to visit in person! Once you know the history, it’s hard to see McMaster as “just another building” again.

A thank you to Anne Quain for her wonderful photography and to Hayley and Hira for their assistance in mounting the artwork and posters!

11/03/2026

What a day! Yesterday, we hosted the 2nd National Fasciolosis Workshop, bringing together an energetic mix of researchers, diagnosticians, industry and government voices who all share the same goal: better control of liver fluke in Australia.

In addition to our presenters (including staff and students), it was fantastic to have attendees join us from thw University of Technology Sydney, as well as online from the UK and Ireland, alongside representatives from Zoetis Australia, consultants working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the one and only Terry Spithill (La Trobe University), Leah Tyrrell (The McKinnon Project, University of Melbourne), and colleagues from UniMelb and the CSIRO (plus plenty of others who helped make the room such a strong mix of expertise).

The workshop kicked off with a recap of last year’s inaugural meeting at the The University of Melbourne (thanks Neil!) and then dove straight into the practical realities of Fasciola control: diagnostics, drenches, export considerations, and what the regulatory landscape can (and can’t) tell us, through perspectives from EMAI (Janina McKay), industry (Matt Playford, Dawbuts), and the CSIRO (Peter Hunt).

From there, we heard researcher updates spanning the whole pipeline: on-farm epidemiology and co-designed research, snail ecology and seasonality, farmer practice surveys, the challenges of applying resistance criteria in the field, and new project updates emerging from across Australia.

The afternoon widened the lens to include global priorities (including insights coming out of WAAVP Curitiba and FAO-aligned discussions), alongside tangible methodological advances, such as new ways to assess compound sensitivity in vitro. We also looked ahead at how emerging in vitro models and advanced microscopy and omics tools can help answer questions about the mysteries of parasites inside their hosts.

We rounded out the day with a whole-group discussion on where we align nationally, what shared datasets and sample access could look like, how we standardise measures across studies, and what coordinated efforts for intervention, extension, and translation might look like.

We want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who travelled, contributed, asked questions, and kept the tone constructive and forward-looking. This field moves fastest when we move together!

Australian Society for Parasitology Veterinary Sciences, University of Sydney

03/03/2026

If there is one question parasitologists get asked all the time by dog owners, it’s this one:

🐶 “Should I be giving garlic to my dog to prevent parasites?”

Let’s cut to the chase: the answer is no. Not “maybe”, not “sometimes”, just no. ❌🧄

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about why.

As parasitologists at the University of Sydney, we’ve collectively spent decades studying parasites 🔬. We’re still fascinated by them, and we love revisiting old research just as much as examining new findings. The garlic question has been around for a long time, so today we’re focusing on one specific claim: that garlic can help control intestinal hookworms in dogs.

The study people most often cite dates back to 1969, published by Dr Gregorio J. Bastidas at Tulane University in the United States. Its title was straightforward: “Effect of ingested garlic on Necator americanus and Ancylostoma caninum.” Gregorio J. Bastidas conducted the work at Tulane University.

Necator americanus is a human hookworm, and Ancylostoma caninum is the common dog hookworm.

The study design was simple — almost shockingly so. An 80-kg man and a 10-kg dog, each infected with their respective hookworms, were fed about 10 grams of raw garlic every day for five days. 🧄🧄🧄

Let’s focus on the dog.

How do we know a dog has hookworms? The same way we diagnose many intestinal parasites: we collect a stool sample 💩 and look for hookworm eggs under a microscope 🔬. These eggs are tiny but countable, and changes in egg numbers help us determine whether a treatment is working. If egg counts drop dramatically or disappear, the treatment is effective. If they don’t change, it hasn’t helped.

So what happened when the dog ate garlic?

Nothing.

Before garlic, the dog’s egg counts were 302–382. During the five days of garlic, they were 281–313. After garlic, 328–352. Those numbers bounce around within the normal range for a chronic hookworm infection. There was no meaningful change.

In simple terms: garlic did not reduce hookworm eggs, and therefore it did not affect the worms. ❌🪱

If garlic had any anti-hookworm effect, we would have seen fewer eggs. We didn’t. So garlic doesn’t deworm dogs.

You might argue that one dog isn’t enough evidence. Normally, we would agree. But in this case, we’re satisfied for two reasons.

First, the garlic didn’t work. There wasn’t even a hint of improvement.

Second — and more importantly — we now know far more about garlic toxicity in dogs than we did in 1969. Garlic (and onions) contain sulphur compounds that can damage canine red blood cells 🩸. This damage leads to oxidative stress and, in severe cases, haemolytic anaemia.

Here’s the concerning part: the 10-kg dog in the study was fed 10 grams of raw garlic every day. Modern veterinary toxicology shows that dogs can experience red blood cell damage at doses smaller than what that dog received. In other words, repeating that study today would be considered unsafe and unethical.

So, back to the original question.

Should you give your dog garlic to prevent parasites?

No. ❌

It doesn’t kill hookworms. It doesn’t reduce egg counts. And at high doses, it isn’t safe.

Garlic belongs in your kitchen 🍳 — not in your dog’s parasite prevention plan.

If your dog needs deworming, your veterinarian can recommend treatments that are safe, effective, and backed by real science. ✔️ Garlic, unfortunately, isn’t one of them when it comes to parasites.

Reference
Bastidas, G. J. (1969). Effect of ingested garlic on Necator americanus and Ancylostoma caninum. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 18(6): 920–923. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.1969.18.920

27/02/2026

Last week, Nichola had the privilege of stepping away from the lab bench and reliving her school days by delivering the Guest Speaker speech at Fort Street High School's annual Speech Day event at the Sydney Town Hall.

While we usually share updates about Nichola's work in parasitology and championing women in science via her Herminthology platform, in the video below you'll catch some insights into the story behind the scientist: how early curiosity can turn into a career, how detours and doubt are often part of the path, and why backing yourself matters even when things don't go to plan. It was also a timely reminder that the skills we value in research, persistence, critical thinking, creativity, and communication are forged long before anyone has a job title.

Veterinary Sciences, University of Sydney Australian Society for Parasitology

24/02/2026

Two weeks ago, we welcomed the lovely Hira Muqaddas to our team for a nine-month postdoctoral research exchange. Hira is a parasitologist from the Women's University Multan, Punjab, Pakistan. She completed her PhD in Parasitology in 2021. She now focuses on the molecular diagnosis and phylogeographic analysis of gastrointestinal helminths in livestock. In 2025, as a British Council Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow at Lancaster University, UK, Hira expanded her expertise to include spatial epidemiology and disease modelling. Now, she wants to gain more experience in order to understand disease epidemiology under changing climatic conditions in Pakistan.

Beyond research, Hira is deeply committed to promoting women in parasitology. She established the first women-led One Health Laboratory dedicated to helminthology in her region, providing a platform for female researchers to thrive. Hira is also passionate about community engagement,especially with children. She strongly believes that educating young minds about zoonotic diseases and safe interactions with companion animals is essential. Through activity-based lessons and the development of an illustrated storybook, she actively works to make science engaging and impactful for the next generation.

During her time with us here at the University of Sydney, she will molecularly and morphologically describe parasites from Pakistan and Australian wildlife. This experience will provide her with access to advanced molecular and microscopy tools, as well as the opportunity to work directly with livestock and wildlife hosts of zoonotic parasites.

Last weekend, we undertook a local cultural exchange with the team by visiting the Lakemba Ramadan night markets, where we broke our fast with Hira and enjoyed some delicious Middle Eastern cuisine. Hira showed us how to eat pani puri, Hayley enjoyed her first camel burger, Javier tried his first sugar cane juice, and we all loved trying some yummy yummy knefeh. Nichola bought some lavashak back to McMaster for Javier's seminar on Monday, which we realised in the moment was a perfect visual representation of NEJ crossing the duodenum!

23/02/2026

For the past three weeks, we’ve been delighted to host Dr Javier González-Miguel (IRNASA-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain) in our lab for an extremely exciting (and currently top-secret 🤫) project on Fasciola hepatica.

Javier is a tenured scientist at the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC) and completed his PhD in Parasitology at the University of Salamanca in 2015. His research sits at the interface of parasite biology and host–pathogen interactions, with a particular focus on the molecular “conversation” between helminths and their hosts, including how these parasites interact with (and can manipulate) the host blood-clotting system to survive.

Nichola and Javier first met during Nichola’s postdoc in John Dalton’s Molecular Parasitology Lab at the University of Galway (Ireland), where Javier was a visiting researcher for five months. Since then, they’ve crossed paths repeatedly around the world, most recently at the WAAVP conference in Curitiba, Brazil, where, somewhere between a symposium and a caprahina, Nichola first proposed the project they are working on today. Following that meeting, Nichola put together a short proposal that secured support through the SSVS Betty Richards Fund for Veterinary Pathology Bequest to make Javier's first visit to Australia a reality.

The visit has involved plenty of long days in the lab, but we’ve also made sure Javier experienced a little of bit of the best Sydney has to offer along the way, ticking off some of the must-see local sights between experiments. Although his time with us has been brief, his energy, expertise, and generosity have made a lasting impression on the team. We’re already looking forward to building towards more two-way collaborative projects together in the near future.

Thank you, Javier, for a brilliant few weeks, and have a safe trip home. We can’t wait to share more about what we've been working on when the time is right. 👀🪱🧫✨