PARASITES AND PARASITISM
PARASITE AND PARASITISM
● PARASITE
- live organism living in or on
on and is dependent on a
host
● PARASITISM
- relationship in which a
parasite either harms or lives
at the expense of the host
● PROTOZOA
- unicellular organisms
★ e.g. Plasmodium (malaria)
● METAZOA
- multicellular organisms
★ e.g. helminths (worms) and
arthropods (ticks, lice)
● ENDOPARASITE
- “a parasite that lives within
another living organism”
★ e.g. malaria, Giardia
● ECTOPARASITE
- “a parasite that lives on the
external surface of another
living organism”
★ e.g. lice, ticks
PARASITES ACCORDING TO SITE
1. INTESTINAL AND UROGENITAL
2. TISSUE AND BLOOD
INTESTINAL PROTOZOA
1. Giardia lamblia
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- world-wide distribution, lives
in the small intestine and
results in malabsorption
2. Entamoeba histolytica
- may invade the colon and
cause bloody diarrhea –
amoebic dysentery; also
causes amoebic liver
abscess.
3. Cryptosporidium parvum
- more prevalent in the
immunocompromised
4. Cyclospora cyatenensis
- parasitizes the small
intestinal mucosa and may
cause diarrhea for several
weeks
5. Balantidium coli
- large motile ciliated parasite
that lives in the colon of pigs,
humans and rodents and can
lead to colonic ulceration
SYSTEMIC PROTOZOA
1. Plasmodium
- the cause of malaria. There
are 4 species that infect man:
★ P. falciparum, P. vivax, P.
ovale and P. malariae
2. Toxoplasma gondii
- transmitted by the ingestion
of oocysts from cat feces.
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PARASITES AND PARASITISM
- infection can lead to ocular
problems and is also a cause
of neonatal toxoplasmosis
3. Leishmania
- transmitted by sand flies, can
lead to visceral, cutaneous
and mucocutaneous
leishmaniasis
4. Trypanosoma
- haemoflagellates cause:
● In Africa - sleeping sickness
(transmitted by the Tsetse
fly)
● In South America - Chagas
disease (transmitted by the
Reduviid bug)
INTESTINAL NEMATODES
1. Trichuris (whipworm)
- soil transmitted helminth
- prevalent in warm, humid
conditions
★ can cause diarrhea, rectal
prolapse and anemia in
heavily-infected people
2. Ancylostoma and Necator
(hookworms)
- major cause of anemia in the
tropics
3. Strongyloides
- inhabits the small bowel
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- infection more severe in
immunosuppressed people
★ e.g. HIV/AIDS, malnutrition,
intercurrent disease
4. Ascaris (roundworm)
- found world-wide in
conditions of poor hygiene,
transmitted by the fecal - oral
route
- adult worms lives in the small
intestine
★ causes eosinophilia
5. Enterobius (pinworm or
threadworm)
- prevalent in cold and
temperate climates but rare
in the tropics
- found mainly in children
SYSTEMIC NEMATODES
1. Onchocerca volvulus
- transmitted by the simulium
black fly,
★ can cause visual
impairment, blindness and
severe itching of the skin
2. Wuchereria bancrofti
- major causative agent of
lymphatic filariasis
3. Brugia malayi
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PARASITES AND PARASITISM
- another microfilarial parasite
that causes lymphatic
filariasis
4. Toxocara
- world-wide infection of dogs
and cats
- human infection occurs when
embryonated eggs are
ingested from dog or cat
feces
★ common in children and can
cause visceral larva
migrans (VLM)
FLATWORMS: CESTODES
1. Taenia saginata
- acquired by ingestion of
contaminated, uncooked
beef
- common infection but causes
minimal symptoms
2. Taenia solium
- acquired by ingestion of
contaminated, uncooked
pork that contains cysticerci
- Less common, but causes
cysticercosis – a systemic
disease where cysticerci
encyst in muscles and in the
brain – may lead to epilepsy
3. Echinococcus granulosus (dog
tapeworm)
4. Echinococcus multilocularis
(rodent tapeworm)
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TREMATODES: FLUKES
1. Fasciolopsis buski
- common parasite of humans
and pigs in South- east Asia.
- one of the largest
trematodes to infect man (8
cm in length) and lives in the
upper intestine.
★ chronic infection leads to
inflammation, ulceration
and hemorrhage of the
small intestine
2. Paragonimus westermani (lung
fluke)
- widespread in the Far East
and Southeast Asia
★ acquired by ingestion of
infective metacercariae in
raw or pickled crustaceans
3. Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke)
- parasite of sheep, humans
become infected when ingest
metacercariae that have
encysted on watercress.
★ The adult trematode lives in
the intrahepatic bile ducts
of the liver.
★ “Fascioliasis” can lead to
severe anemia in humans
4. Clonorchis sinensis (liver fluke):
- widespread in China, Japan,
Korea and Taiwan
★ acquired by ingestion of
infective metacercariae in
raw or pickled fish
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