Historical review of Italian literature on pig parasites

The literature on pig parasites in Italy of nearly one century (1882-2007) was collected and analised. The interest as focused mainly on gastro-intestinal parasites (31% of papers), followed by Ascaris suum (11%) and ectoparasires (9%). More than half of publications concerns epidemiological aspects (64%); the therapeutic approach to the parasitic diseases is also treated (11%); 70% of papers is represented by original works and 14% by educational reviews. Other topics treated are : immunology (6%), diagnosis (4%), health management and economic impact (3%), morphology (3%), and pathology (2%). The observed gap in national scientific production on pig parasites is surprising if related to the big effort to renew swine breeding. Parasitic diseases are unfortunately "snubbed" by the talian pig technicians. The literature is available from the authors.