Parasitology Notes

Made by: Myrielle Trisha M. Sayre

Ancient History
 The Ebers papyrus, written about 1600 BC, contains references to the presence of parasitic worms in man.
 The laws of the Mosaic code prohibiting the consumption of meat from unclean animals indicate that the early
Israelites had knowledge about parasitic infections.
 There is also evidence of parasitic recognition among the Roman, Greek, Persian, and Phoenicin scientists.
 Chinese doctors were aware of parasites as early as 300 BC.

10 Biggest Killers Note:

Hepatitis B - 1.1 million  Trophozoid Stage - feeding stage
Malaria - 2.1 million  -iasis - infection
Tuberculosis - 3.1 million  -megaly - enlargement  Nematodes - roundworms
 Trematodes - flukes
 Jason de Brie discovered the sheep liver fluke Fasciola hepatica from sheep.  Cestodes - tapeworms
 Protozoans - amoeba, flagellates,
 Taenia saginata or beef tapeworm.
ciliates, sporozoans
 Tapeworms are longer and larger than its host.
 Diphyllobothrium latum, known as the broad or fish tapeworm, or broad fish tapeworm.

PARASITE - Greek words “para’ - near & “sites” - food. A living organism which for the purpose of procuring food &
shelter take up their abode temporarily on or within another living organism.
- May be nonpathogenic or definitely pathogenic and live at the expense of the host causing it harm.

The parasite causes harm to the host in many ways:

1. Depriving the host of digested food.
2. Erecting mechanical blockades of food, blood, lymph and bile passages.
3. Causes tissue damages by rupture enzymatic digestion, induction of autolysis as secretion of toxins.

PARASITISM - A type of symbiotic relationship from the parasite and the host.
- Parasitic relationships may be temporary, facultative, or obligatory.
- This relationships can be loose or mostly intimate and for the parasite it is usually obligatory.
- There is always harm and exploitation.

 In an organism, usually the physically smaller of the two (the parasite) benefits and the other (the host) is harmed.
 As a parasite has to break through the different layers of defense mechanisms of the host in order to localize and thrive
on the host, the parasite must be equipped with specialized mechanism. This relationship therefore is generally,
strongly specie specific, in other words, a particular parasite can infect only a particular host, not any other.

KINDS OF PARASITE

MACROPARASITES - are multicellular parasites that are visible to the naked human eyes.
Examples: helminths such as tapeworms, adult trematodes, most nematodes, acanthocephalans, and
arthropods such as ticks and fleas.

MICROPARASITES - small, generally, unicellular and invisible to the naked eyes.

Examples: viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa. 

(WHERE IT IS FOUND) 2EE

ECTOPARASITE - lives on the surface of the host.

Examples: The scabies mite ( Sarcoptes scabiei ),The mite of the hair follicles (Demodex sp.),The head
louse ( Pediculus humanus capitis ),The common flea ( Pulex irritans)The pubic louse ( Pthirus pubis )

ENDOPARASITE - lives within the host.

Examples: Nematodes such as roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms. Trematodes such as flukes and
cestodes like tapeworms. Eyeworms, heartworms, lungworms, and subcutaneous worms such as threadworms and
 esophageal worms.

CEPHOPHILIC PARASITE - mostly found on feces

HEMATOZOIC PARASITE - mostly found on the red blood cells. A parasitic protozoan or similar organism that lives in
the blood.
Examples: trypanosomes or microfilariae of Wuchereria or Brugia

CYTOZOIC PARASITE - mostly found on the cell tissues. A parasite, especially a protozoon, living within a cell.

COELOZOIC PARASITE - mostly found on the body cavities.

Examples: Ascaris suum in the small intestine of pig and others

ENETEROZOIC PARASITE - mostly found on the intestines.

HYPERPARASITE -  A parasite that lives in or on another parasite. 

Examples: insects that lay their eggs inside or near parasitoid larvae, which are themselves parasitizing the
tissues of a host, again usually an insect larva. 

PSEUDOPARASITE- an object or organism that resembles or is mistaken for a parasite.

Examples: the larvae of house flies and gray flesh flies, cheese skippers, and various species of myriopods

WANDERING OR ABERRANT PARASITE - The parasites which wanders and reaches into organs in which they are
not usually found.
Examples: Multilocular cyst,Angiostrongylos ,Toxocara

(ACCORDING TO THE NEEDS FOR A HOST)

OBLIGATORY PARASITE - one that is entirely dependent upon a host for its survival.
Examples: Trichomonas. Trichomonass vaginalis in culture (59 kb) Trophozoite. Taenia. Trichinella.

FACULTATIVE PARASITE - An organism that lives independent of a host but may occasionally be parasitic under
certain conditions. 
Example: Armillaria species, Naegleria fowleri

SPURIOUS PARASITE - organisms that parasitize other hosts that pass through the human intestine and are detected in
the stool after ingestion.
Example: Capillaria sp. eggs in animal liver

INTERMITTENT PARASITE - only feed on the host then leave.

Example: mosquitoes or bedbugs, that only feed on the host then leave. 

(ACCORDING TO PATHOGENECITY)

PATHOGENIC - A pathogen is anything that causes disease.

Example: Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia 

NONPATHOGENIC - harmless
Example:Chilomastix mesnili. Endolimax nana. Entamoeba coli. Entamoeba dispar. Entamoeba
hartmanni. Entamoeba polecki. Iodamoeba buetschlii

HOMOXENOUS - requiring only one host in the life cycle.

HETEROXENOUS - A heteroxenous parasite has two or more types of host in its life cycle.
Example: coccidia, amoebae, hookworms, fish trematodes, horse bots, streptococci and most pox viruses.

DIOECIOUS - Having Two separate sexes,adults are either Male or Female

Example: Nematodes and Acanthocephalans

MONOECIOUS - having both the male and female reproductive organs in the same individual; hermaphrodite.
 (VECTORS)
BIOLOGICAL VECTORS - An animal vector in which the disease-causing organism multiplies or develops prior to
becoming infective for a susceptible person.
Example: Tick,Mosquitoes,Sand fly

MECHANICAL VECORS
Example: mosquito that carries the malaria parasite, Plasmodium between humans, and the tsetse fly that
carries trypanosomes from other animals to humans.

PHORETIC VECTORS - occurs in the vector.

ANTHROPOPHILIC VECTORS - when the vector prefers human blood when it is available.

ZOOPHILIC VECTORS - when the vector prefers animal blood when it is available.
Note: Zoonosis is another name for a zoonotic disease. This type of disease passes from an animal or insect
to a human.

TYPE OF HOSTS

DEFINITIVE OR FINAL HOSTS -  it is where a parasite becomes sexually matured. It is also known as the primary host.
Inside the definitive host, the parasite becomes an adult and reproduces sexually.

INTERMEDIATE HOST/SECONDARY HOST - refers to the organism in which the parasite primarily grows to the
point of sexual maturity. It acts as the vector of the parasite to reach its definite host.
Example: Trypanosoma gambiense, causing sleeping sickness has humans as primary host and tse-tse fly as
secondary host.

PARATENIC HOST - An organism that plays a role in a parasite's life cycle, as by harboring its unhatched eggs, but in or
on which no development of the parasite occurs.

RESERVOIR HOST - do not get the disease carried by the pathogen or it is asymptomatic and non-lethal. An
animal which is utilized by a parasite as a temporary refuge till it reaches its appropriate host.
Example: marmots, black rats, prairie dogs, chipmunks and squirrels for bubonic plague.

SUSCEPTIBLE HOST- readily infected. Individuals who are likely to develop a communicable disease after exposure to
the infectious agents.

PERMISSIVE HOST - one that allows a virus to circumvent its defenses and replicate.

NON-PERMISSIVE HOST - A cell that does not allow the multiplication within it of a virus. 

PROTOZOANS

 Do not require any intermediate host.

AMOEBA

 A type of unicellular organism usually found in water around decaying vegetation, in wet soil and in animals such
as humans. It is relatively advanced, and can extend and retract blob-like arms called pseudopodia, which it can
use to grasp food particles and to propel itself through microscopic terrain.