Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 22. (Budapest, 1989)
results in depression of the latter, elimination, or asymptomatic carriership. The most actual problem of integration of parasitological knowledge can be tackled only by joint efforts of parasitologists of all specializations. This is the only way to create scientific principles of integrative parasitology and successfully satisfy practical requirements of medicine, veterinary science and phytopathology. Besides the evolution of new ideas, a new style of thinking and systemic approach made me aware of the necessity of a radical revision of antiquated views and principles of parasitology, renewal of its conceptual system, strict definition of its future prospects and concrete ways of further development. The work in this direction has given rise to a new science - parasitocenology - which should assume an integrative function. Parasitocenology is a complex theoretical and applied science involving research efforts of parasitologists (biologists, physicians, veterinarians, phytopathologists, biocenologists and experts in related sciences) that deals with parasitic systems represented by parasitic and temporarily pathogenic organisms, associations of their free-living generations as well as a hostal environment, i.e. an assemblage of hosts. The main purpose of parasitocenology includes a detailed study of the systems mentioned: their structure, causative factors, pattern of relationships, interaction of structural components, regularities of their formation and functions. So while population parasitology studies relationships of separate populations with the hostal environment, parasitocenology places the greatest emphasis on interrelationships between populations within some parasitic ecosystem and their joint interaction with a host. Therefore parasitocenology represents an independent branch of ecological parasitology (not zooparasitology) and is placed at the level of synecology, but Involves also elements of demecology and biogeocenology. It is parasitocenology that should play the leading part in the integration of special disciplines, scoping principal characteristics and regularities of the development of parasitic systems, elaboration of the general theory of parasitism as an integrated whole, laying the scientific foundation of a really general science on parasites. The primary task of parasitocenology is the theoretical unification of different fields of parasitology. These fields (virology, medical and veterinary microbiology, myco-, phyto- and zooparasitology) appeared independently and until recently evolved in isolation as independent branches of science. This isolation resulted in an artificial dismembering of parasitic communities into their taxonomic compounds, and the evidence which had been cumulated was not synthesized and did not reflect the life of the real world of parasites. This situation is regarded by many specialists as quite normal. It should be mentioned that every parasitological discipline has accumulated a lot of factual materials of aut- and demecological levels. This increase of empirical knowledge calls for strenuous scientific generalization. The inference from treated materials within special branches of parasitology is carried out as a rule from the position of subjectivism in cognition and "common sense". Their theoretic estimation from the point of view of general parasitology (not zooparasitology) is not usually done. Interrelationships of parasitic ecosystem members belonging to different taxons have not been analysed properly. It Is no wonder since most parasitologists of adjacent specialities do scientific work separately, not infrequently failing to understand each other. The departmental barriers, steady traditions, active conservative thinking and underestimation of problems of scientific knowledge integration led to separation of scientists working in contiguous fields of the same science. This remilted in errors in the diagnostics of mixed diseases, ungrounded treatment and preventive measures, considerable shortcomings in public health care, animal breeding and plant growing. Experiments carried out in
