Alternatives to animal experiments in parasitology

Alternatives to animal experiments are measures which lead to "Reduction, Refinement and Replacement" of such experiments and are internationally known under the abbreviation 3 R. In parasitology several measures can contribute to the aims of 3 R, such as legal regulations on animal welfare, international guidelines for efficacy evaluation of antiparasitic drugs, the refinement of animal models for parasitic infections and infestations, cryopreservation and cultivation of parasites in vitro or in embryonated chicken eggs, the in vitro feeding and maintenance of haematophagous arthropods, and the use of in vitro techniques of immunology and molecular biology, for example methods of gene technology for producing antigens for vaccines and immunodiagnostic tests. Progress achieved in recent times is remarkable, but several alternative methods are not optimised for broad use in laboratory practice, not standardised and too expensive. In some areas there are only initial stages of alternatives available. Therefore, further efforts in the sense of 3 R are necessary which require long-term support of research.