Talk:Parasitology

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[edit] Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Asian Parasitology

Just a primer on the obvious issues involved in transpacific parasitology:

In Asia, insects are a much broader category than in Europe and America. Nematoda, platyhelminthes, and arthropoda as a whole are included under the insect radical in the dictionary.

Hexapoda is an important concept in translating between these two cultures' ideas of entomology and parasitology. Indeed, hexapoda has a separate word, which is used in the name of the capital of Yunnan, in the south of China, the city of Kunming, the first syllable, "Kun".

South China is contiguous with North China, so all manner of parasites have been more or less tracked to the north. There is no separation from the tropical parasitical world as in Europe, with its strict separation from Africa and the Mideast. Since this civilization grew up as a temperate-tropic contiguous entity, it is perfectly conscious of the worst parasites in a way that Europe and America are only now coming to be, with European presence in South Africa, South America, Australia, The Raj, etc. One could say that in general terms Asia has much more experience with parasitology than Europe/America.

Search:Dongting Lake at a major peer review site yields very many results. This lake, a short distance south of the major city of Wuhan in mid-China is an important center of schistosomiasis research.

This geographic and cultural contiguousity of course is why one takes one's shoes off indoors, as far north as Hokkaido. And, why going barefoot is more or less verboten, again as far north as Hokkaido. And, why if one drops food on the floor, it is instantly discarded, no exceptions, no rinsing in the sink. These parameters are incredibly strict. If one simply "parses" the word insect, one can see that it consists of a Chinese or Asian stepping on something. It couldn't be a simpler word.

Of course the word dragon, and all the attention focused on the dragon, as known in the West from seeing Dragons in the lunar new year parades, and in Dragon Boat racing, has everything to do with parasitology. The climax of the Dragon Parade typically consists of the Dragon eventually succumbing to hunger and eating an orange.

Under the insect radical one not only finds hexapoda, arthropoda including arachnids, scorpions, shrimp, millipedes, and others, one also finds, strangely enough, badgers, snakes, oysters, clams, eggs and rainbows. It is a bit mysterious.--McDogm 16:38, 19 August 2005 (UTC)