L07 - Introduction to Parasitology

Parasitology
Definition
Branch of medical sciences which deals w/ organisms (parasites) that live permanently /
temporarily within/on human body (host)

Parasites
• Organism that lives on (ectoparasite) or inside another organism / host (endoparasite)
• Obtains nourishment and protection from host
• Two potential effects on host:
1. Causes infection, disease or discomfort in host
2. Host shows no signs of the presence of parasites living inside the body
• Parasites will try to live longer inside the host

Types of parasites
Obligatory: Completely dependent on is host and can't survive without it but may not spend all
of their time being parasites e.g. hookworms

Facultative: Can change its lifestyle, depending on surrounding conditions, between being
parasitic or free-living in an environment, e.g. Strongyloides stercoralis

Accidental: Affects unusual host, e.g. Toxocara canis is a dog parasite that affects human beings

Temporary: Visits host for feeding only and then leaves, e.g. Bed Bugs -> visit human being for
blood meal

Permanent: Lives in or on its host without leaving. A couple of generations can occur in the host
of infected host e.g. Lice.

Opportunistic: Capable of producing disease in immunodeficient host, e.g. AIDS & cancer
patients. Inside immune-competent hosts -> causes a self-limiting disease or found in a latent
form, e.g. Toxoplasma gondii

Zoonotic: Usually infects animals and can be transmitted to animals, e.g. Fasciola sp

Type of hosts
Definitive host: harbours the adult or sexually mature stages of the parasite (or in whom sexual
reproduction occurs) e.g. man is DH for Schistosoma haematobium

Intermediate host: harbours larval or sexually immature stages of the parasite (or in whom
asexual reproduction occurs) e.g. man is IH of malaria parasites.

Two intermediate hosts termed 1st and 2nd IH may be needed for completion of a parasite's life
cycle, e.g. Pirenella conica snail is the 1st IH, while Tilapia (Bolty) fish is the 2nd IH for
Heterophyes heterophyes.
 Reservoir host: Harbours the same species and same stages of the parasite as infection in man.
It maintains the life cycle of the parasite in nature and is therefore, a reservoir source of
infection for man. e.g. sheep are RH for Fasciola hepatica.

Paratenic or transport host: where the parasite does not undergo any development but
remains alive and infective to another host, so it's just transporting.
Paratenic hosts bridge gap between the intermediate and definitive hosts. For example, dogs
and pigs may carry hookworm eggs from one place to another, but the eggs do not hatch or pass
through any development in these animals.

Vector
Some parasites are transmitted directly from one host to another, often by insects, described as
vectors.

Arthropod that transmit parasites from one host to another, e.g. female sand fly transmits
Leishmania parasites -> Vectors are often insects.

Host-Parasite Relationship
Definition: Relationship between host, parasite and competition for supremacy/power that
takes place between them

Symbiosis: “Life-together”, when two organisms live in association to one another

Types: Mutualism, Parasitism, Commensalism; based on whether they are beneficial, harmful,
or has no effects on each other

Types of symbiotic Association

Mutualism: A relationship in which both partners benefit from the association.
Commensalism: In which one partner benefits from the association, but the host is neither
helped nor harmed.
Parasitism: In which one of the participants, the parasite, either harms or lives at the expense of
the host.

Classification and General Characters of Human Parasites

The classification of parasites is controversial as there is no universally accepted system.
The most acceptable taxonomic classification of human parasites includes Endoparasites and
Ectoparasites.

Endoparasites
o Live inside host
o E.g. Helminthes, protozoa, larval stages of arthropods (mites, insects, etc.)
o Protozoan & helminthic can infect organs and different tissues of human body
o Most live in intestines or at least pass through intestines after infected food/water has
been swallowed
Ectoparasites
o Live on the host (ecto- means outside of).
o They include fleas, lice, mosquitoes, bugs, mites, ticks etc.
o In general, ectoparasites attaches to the skin to feed and do not remain on the host for
their entire lives.

Parasites Life Cycles

Simple:
Have only one host and are described as monoxenous (e.g. life cycle of Ascaris lumbricoides).
Spends most of its life in or on the host, and may reproduce within the host.
Has both free-living and parasitic life stages
Because offspring must be transmitted to other hosts, however, the parasite or its progeny
must have some way of leaving the host, surviving in the external environment for some
period, and locating and infecting a new host.

Complex:
Involving multiple host, described as having indirect or heteroxenous life cycles (e.g. life
cycle of Fasciola spp.
Primary or DH of heteroxenous species are hosts where adult parasites live and reproduce
sexually
Secondary or IH are hosts where immature life stages of parasite live and reproduce
asexually
Parasites often pass through critical developmental stages in IH
E.g. Rat flea is the IH for mammalian parasites such as tapeworm (Hymenolepis diminuta)

Protozoa
Protozoa are one-celled eukaryotes bounded by only a cell membrane.
Protozoa possess typical eukaryotic organelles and in general has the typical features of other
eukaryotic cells.
Protozoa exhibit a wide variety of morphologies
Many species exhibit complex life cycles with multiple stages.
Divided into four major stages, based on lifecycle and motility.
Helminth
Eukaryotic, multicellular animals that usually have digestive, circulatory, nervous, excretory, and
reproductive systems.
Helminths are invertebrates that develop through egg, larval (juvenile), and adult stages.
Classification is based on the external and internal morphology of egg, larvae, and adult stages.
Main phyla which contain vermiform parasites are Platyhelminthes (flatworms) and
Nemathelminthes (roundworms). Flatworms include tapeworms (Cestodes) and flukes
(Trematodes)