Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)

HELMINTHS  one animal has both male and female

 A number of parasitic animals spend part or
all of their lives in humans.
 Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
 Nematoda (roundworms).
 Helminths – commonly called worms
Characteristics
 multicellular eukaryotic animals that
generally possess digestive, circulatory,
nervous, excretory and reproductive system
 Lived inside their hosts.
reproductive organs.
Different Groups of Helminths
Platyhelminths (Flatworms)
 Dorsoventrally flattened.
 Includes trematodes and Cestodes
 These parasites cause disease or
developmental disturbances in a wide variety
of animals
Trematodes/ Flukes

Characteristics  Often have flat, leaf-shaped bodies with a

ventral sucker and an oral sucker.
1. They may lack a digestive system. They can o The suckers hold the organism in
absorb nutrients from the host’s food, body place.
fluids, and tissues.  Flukes obtain food by absorbing it through
2. Their nervous system is reduced. They do their nonliving outer covering, called the
not need an extensive nervous system cuticle.
because they do not have to search for food  Flukes are given common names according
or respond much to their environment. The to the tissue of the definitive host in which
environment within a host is fairly constant. the adults live
3. Their means of locomotion is occasionally o Ex. lung fluke, liver fluke, blood
reduced or completely lacking. Because they fluke
are transferred from host to host, they don’t o Asian liver fluke Clonorchis
need to search actively for a suitable habitat. sinensis (klon-OR-kis sin-EN-sis) is
4. The reproductive system is often complex. occasionally seen in immigrants in
Individuals produce large numbers of eggs, the United States, but it cannot be
by which a suitable host is infected.
Life Cycle of Flukes
Life Cycle
transmitted because its intermediate
 extremely complex. hosts are not in the United States.
 involves a succession of intermediate hosts
for completion of each larval
(developmental) stage of the parasite and a
definitive host for the adult parasite.
Adult Helminths
 Dioecious - male reproductive organs are in
one individual, and female reproductive
organs are in another.
 reproduction occurs only when two
adults of the opposite sex are in the
same host.
 Monoecious/ Hermaphroditic - one animal
has both male and female reproductive
organs.
Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)

 The adult lung fluke lives in the bronchioles o The proglottids farthest away from
of humans and other mammals and is the scolex are the mature ones
approximately 6 mm wide and 12 mm long. containing fertilized eggs.
 The hermaphroditic adults liberate eggs into o Mature proglottids are essentially
the bronchi. Because sputum that contains bags of eggs, each of which is
eggs is frequently swallowed, the eggs are infective to the proper intermediate
usually excreted in feces of the definitive
host.
Humans as Definitive Host
 If the life cycle is to continue, the eggs must
reach a body of water. host
Beef Tapeworm
 The adults of Taenia saginata (TE-ne¯-ah
sa-jin-AH-tah),

Infection
Cestodes/ Tapeworms

 Infection results from eating undercooked

freshwater crustaceans, and the disease can
be prevented by thoroughly cooking crayfish
and freshwater crabs.
o Cercariae of the blood fluke
Schistosoma (shis-to¯-SO- -mah)
 They are not ingested. Instead,
they burrow through the skin of
the human host and enter the
circulatory system. The adults
are found in certain abdominal
and pelvic veins
 Intestinal parasites
 Consist of head or scolex (Pl. scoleces) has
suckers for attaching to the intestinal
mucosa of the definitive host; some species
also have small hooks for attachment.
 Tapeworms do not ingest the tissues of their
hosts; in fact, they completely lack a
digestive system.
 To obtain nutrients from the small
intestine, they absorb food through their
cuticle.
 The body consists of segments called
proglottids. o the beef tapeworm, live in humans
o Proglottids are continually produced and can reach a length of 6 m.
by the neck region of the scolex, as o The scolex is about 2 mm long and is
long as the scolex is attached and followed by a thousand or more
alive. proglottids.
o Each mature proglottid contains both o The feces of an infected human
male and female reproductive contain mature proglottids, each of
organs. which contains thousands of eggs.
Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)
o As the proglottids wriggle away
from the fecal material, they increase
their chances of being ingested by an
animal that is grazing.
Prevention
o Upon ingestion by cattle, the larvae
hatch from the eggs and bore through
the intestinal wall.
o The larvae migrate to muscle (meat),
in which they encyst as cysticerci.
When the cysticerci are ingested by
humans, all but the scolex is
digested.
o The scolex anchors itself in the small
intestine and begins producing
proglottids
Diagnosis
 Diagnosis of tapeworm infection in humans
is based on the presence of mature
proglottids and eggs in feces.
 Cysticerci can be seen macroscopically in
meat; their presence is referred to as
“measly beef.”
o Inspecting beef that is intended for
human consumption for “measly”
appearance is one way to prevent
infections by beef tapeworm.
 Another method of prevention is to avoid
the use of untreated human sewage as
fertilizer in grazing pastures
Pork Tapeworm
 Taenia solium
 Humans are the only known definitive host
of the pork tapeworm
 When eggs are eaten by pigs, the larval
helminth encysts in the pig’s muscles;
humans become infected when they eat
undercooked pork.
Humans as Intermediate Host
 Humans are the intermediate hosts for
Echinococcus granulosus.
 Dogs and coyotes are the definitive hosts
1. Eggs are excreted with feces.
2. Eggs are ingested by deer, sheep, or
humans. Humans can also become
infected by contaminating their hands
with dog feces or saliva from a dog that
has licked itself.
3. The eggs hatch in the human’s small
intestine, and the larvae migrate to the
liver or lungs
4. 6 The larva develops into a hydatid cyst.
The cyst contains “brood capsules,”
from which thousands of scoleces might
be produced.
5. Humans are a dead end for the parasite,
but in the wild, the cysts might be in a
deer that is eaten by a wolf.
6. The scoleces would be able to attach
themselves in the wolf’s intestine and
produce proglottids.
Diagnosis
 Diagnosis of hydatid cysts is frequently
made only on autopsy, although X rays can
detect the cysts
NEMATODES
 Members of the phylum Nematoda, the
roundworms, are cylindrical and tapered at
each end.
 Roundworms have a complete digestive
system, consisting of a mouth, an intestine,
and an anus. Most species are dioecious.
 Males are smaller than females and have one
or two hardened spicules on their posterior
ends.
Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)
 Spicules are used to guide sperm to
the female’s genital pore.
 Some species of nematodes are free-living in
soil and water, and others are parasites of
plants and animals.
 Some nematodes pass their entire life
cycle, from egg to mature adult, in a
single host.
 Intestinal roundworms are the most common
causes of chronic infectious diseases.
 The most common are Ascaris,
 Hookworms; and
 whipworms,
 infecting more than 2 billion people
worldwide.
 Nematode infections of humans can be
divided into two categories:
 Egg is infective
Eggs Infective for Humans
 Larva is infective
Ascaris lumbricoides
(AS-kar-is lum-bri-KOY-de¯z)
 a large nematode (30 cm in length) that
infects over 1 billion people worldwide
 It is dioecious with sexual dimorphism;
that is, the male and female worms look
distinctly different, the male being smaller
with a curled tail.
 The adult Ascaris lives in the small
intestines of humans exclusively; it feeds
primarily on semi digested food.
 Eggs, excreted with feces, can survive in the
soil for long periods until accidentally
ingested by another host.
 The eggs hatch in the small intestine of the
host. The larvae then burrow out of the
intestine and enter the blood.
 They are carried to the lungs, where they
grow.
 The larvae will then be coughed up,
swallowed, and returned to the small
intestine, where they mature into adults.
Baylisascaris procyonis
(Reacoon Roundworm)
 Raccoons are the definitive host, although
the adult roundworm can also live in
domestic dogs.
 Eggs are shed with feces and ingested by an
intermediate host, usually a rabbit.
 The ingested eggs hatch in the intestines of
rabbits and humans.
 The larvae migrate through a variety of
tissues, causing a condition called larva
migrans.
 Infection often results in severe neurological
symptoms or death.
Toxocara canis (from dogs) and
T. cati (from cats)
 These companion animals are the
intermediate and definitive hosts, but
humans can become infected by ingesting
Toxocara eggs shed in the animals’ feces.
 It is estimated that 14% of the U.S.
population has been infected.
 Children are most likely to be infected
probably because they play in soil and
sandboxes, where animal feces can be
found.
Whipworm
(Trichuris trichiura)
 The worms are spread from person to
person by fecal–oral transmission or
through feces-contaminated food.
 The disease occurs most often in areas
with tropical weather and poor sanitation
practices and among children
Pinworm
(Enterobius vermicularis)
 Spends its entire life in a human host
 Adult pinworms are found in the large
intestine.
 From there, the female pinworm migrates to
the anus to deposit her eggs on the perianal
skin.
 The eggs can be ingested by the host or by
another person exposed through
contaminated clothing or bedding.
Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)
 A few nematode larvae live in soil and can
enter a human host directly through the skin.
Strongyloides
(stron-gel-OI-de¯z)
 These nematodes infect 30 to 100 million
people worldwide.
 Most infections are limited to a rash where
the nematode entered, but the larvae can
migrate to the intestine, causing abdominal
pain, or to the lungs, causing a cough.
Hookworms
(Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale)
 live in the small intestine of humans; the
eggs are excreted in feces.
 The larvae hatch in the soil, where they feed
on bacteria.
 A larva enters its host by penetrating the
host’s skin.
 It then enters a blood or lymph vessel, which
carries it to the lungs.
 It is coughed up in sputum, swallowed, and
finally carried to the small intestine.
Trichinellosis
 Caused by a nematode that the host acquires
by eating encysted larvae in undercooked
meat of infected animals.
Dirofilaria immitis
(dir-o¯ -fil-AIR-e¯-ah IM-mi-tis)
 Spread from host to host through the bites of
Aedes mosquitoes.
 It primarily affects dogs and cats, but it can
infest human skin, conjunctiva, or lungs.
 Larvae injected by the mosquito migrate to
various organs, where they mature into
adults.
 The parasitic worm is called a heartworm
because the adult stage is often in the animal
host’s heart, where it can kill its host
through congestive heart failure.
 The disease occurs on every continent
except Antarctica. Wolbachia bacteria
appear to be essential to development of the
worm embryos.
Wriggly Worms
Larvae Infective for Humans
(anisakines)
 Can be transmitted to humans from infected
fish and squid.
 Anisakine larvae are in the fish’s intestinal
mesenteries and migrate to the muscle when
the fish dies.
 Freezing or thorough cooking will kill the
larvae
ARTHROPODS AS VECTORS
 Arthropods are animals characterized by
segmented bodies, hard external skeletons,
and jointed legs.
 Largest phylum in the animal kingdom.
 Arthropods that carry pathogenic
microorganisms are called vectors.
 Scabies and pediculosis are diseases that are
caused by arthropods themselves
Representative Classes of Arthropods
 Arachnida (eight legs): spiders, mites,
ticks
 Crustacea (four antennae): crabs,
crayfish
 Insecta (six legs): bees, flies, lice
 Some vectors are just a mechanical means of
transport for a pathogen.
o For example, houseflies lay their
eggs on decaying organic matter,
such as feces. While doing so, a
housefly can pick up a pathogen on
its feet or body and transport the
pathogen to our food.
 Some parasites multiply in their vectors.
When this happens, the parasites can
accumulate in the vector’s feces or saliva.
Microbiology and Parasitology (MSS 512)

 Large numbers of parasites can then be

deposited on or in the host while the vector
is feeding there.

Spirochete
 Causes Lyme disease is transmitted by ticks
in this manner, and the West Nile virus is
transmitted in the same way by mosquitoes.
Plasmodium
 An example of a parasite that requires that
its vector also be the definitive host
 Plasmodium can sexually reproduce only in
the gut of an Anopheles mosquito.
 Plasmodium is introduced into a human host
with the mosquito’s saliva, which acts as an
anticoagulant that keeps blood flowing.
 To eliminate vector borne diseases, health
workers focus on eradicating the vectors. Eradication