Dr Amanda Ash is one of the people you want explaining parasites.

A Senior Lecturer in Parasitology at Murdoch University and a parasitologist with the Harry Butler Institute, Amanda has spent her career studying how parasites move between wildlife, livestock, companion animals and humans. Her research has taken her from African painted dogs and giraffes to remote communities in Laos, where she has worked on One Health approaches to control parasites that affect both people and animals.

In this episode of Paramount Importance, Kurt Krispyn sits down with Amanda to explore the strange, complex and often misunderstood world of human parasites and pathogens.

They discuss zoonotic disease, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, pork tapeworm, parasite life cycles, wildlife conservation, contaminated water, One Health, and why parasites are not always the villains we think they are.

This is a fascinating conversation with a scientist who has spent years chasing parasites across species, ecosystems and countries — and it might completely change the way you think about the organisms living around us, inside us and between us.