The use of DNA probes for the detection and identification of para sites has become a routine practice in many laboratories and the tech nique is rapidly becoming established as a diagnostic tool for field and clinical studies. DNA probes have been used in the identification of a large number of parasites including Leishmania (1 –4 ), malaria parasites (5 –8 ), trypanosomes (9 –10 ), Onchocerca (11 –13 ), schisto- somes (14 –15 ) and filarial parasites (16 –18 ). Undoubtedly, DNA probes will continue to make an important contribution to research progress in this area.