Parasitic Infections: Emerging Trends, Drug Resistance, and Advances in Control

This chapter reviews the evolving epidemiology of parasitic diseases of global health significance — including malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and cryptosporidiosis — in the context of climate change, population movement, and weakened health systems in endemic regions. It critically examines mechanisms of drug resistance in key parasitic organisms, particularly Plasmodium falciparum resistance to artemisinin combination therapies and antileishmanial drug resistance, and evaluates the implications for treatment guidelines. The chapter further reviews advances in anti-parasitic drug development, novel vaccine candidates, vector control strategies, and genomic tools for parasite surveillance and drug target identification.