This title contains the proceedings of a zoology seminar held in March 1997. The seminar consisted of 18 invited papers which were placed within six separate sessions: Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) - an Irish perspective; Epidemiology of zoonotic parasites; Food-borne zoonoses; The challenge of sylvatic zoonoses; Zoonoses and human lifestyle; and The challenge of diagnosing zoonoses.