PARASITOLOGY

PROTOZOA
Parasitic Diseases
• Protozoan and helminthic parasites exist worldwide
• Occur among people in rural, undeveloped, or overcrowded
places
• Emerging as serious threats in developed nations
• Parasitic infections often involve several hosts
• Definitive host
• Intermediate host
• Parasites can infect humans in several ways
Routes by which humans acquire
parasitic infections

Figure 23.1
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Protozoa that enter the body via ingestion have two
morphological forms
• Trophozoite
• Feeding and reproducing stage that lives within the host
• Cyst
• Infective form that survives in the environment
• Undergo excystment when ingested developing into
trophozoites
• Trophozoites undergo encystment before leaving the host in
feces
• Parasites presented based primarily on their mode of
locomotion
• Ciliates, amoebae, flagellates, and apicomplexans
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Ciliates
• Protozoa that use cilia in their trophozoite stage
• Balantidium coli
• Only ciliate known to cause disease in humans
• Commonly found in animal intestinal tracts
• Humans infected by food or water contaminated with
feces containing cysts
• Trophozoites attach to mucosal epithelium lining the
intestine
• Infections generally asymptomatic in healthy adults
• Balantidiasis occurs in those with poor health
• Persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, and weight loss
Life cycle of Balantidium coli
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Amoebae
• Protozoa with no truly defined shape
• Move and acquire food through the use of
pseudopodia
• Found in water sources throughout the world
• Few cause disease
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Amoebae
• Entamoeba
• Carried asymptomatically in the digestive tracts of humans
• No animal reservoir exists
• Infection occurs by drinking water contaminated with feces
containing cysts
• Three types of amebiasis can result from infection
• Luminal amebiasis
• Invasive amebic dysentery
• Invasive extraintestinal amebiasis
• Maintaining clean water is important in prevention
Trophozoite of Entamoeba
histolytica

Figure 23.2
Life cycle of Entamoeba histolytica
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Amoebae
• Acanthamoeba and Naegleria
• Cause rare and usually fatal brain infections
• Common inhabitants of natural and artificial
water systems
• Individuals who wash their contact lenses with
tap water can become infected
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Amoebae
• Acanthamoeba and Naegleria
• Acanthamoeba disease
• Occurs through cuts, scrapes, the conjunctiva, or
inhalation
• Acanthamoeba keratitis due to conjunctival
inoculation
• Amebic encephalitis is the more common disease
• Naegleria disease
• Infection occurs when swimmers inhale contaminated
water
• Amoebic meningoencephalitis can result
• Prevention difficult since organisms are environmentally
hardy
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Protozoa that possess at least one flagellum
• Number and arrangement of flagella important to determining
the species
• The flagellates include members of the genera Trypanosoma,
Leishmania, Giardi, and Trichomonas
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Trypanosoma cruzi
• Causes Chagas’ disease
• Endemic in Central and South America
• Opossums and armadillos are the primary reservoir
• Transmission occurs through bite of insects in genus
Triatoma
• “Kissing bugs” feed preferentially from blood vessels
in the lips
The life cycle of Trypanasoma
cruzi

Figure 23.3
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Trypanasoma cruzi
• Chagas’ disease
• Progresses through four stages
• Acute stage characterized by chagomas
• Generalized stage
• An asymptomatic chronic stage
• Symptomatic stage characterized by
congestive heart failure following
formation of pseudocysts
• Parasite-induced heart disease is a leading cause
of death in Latin America
Mature trypomastigotes of
Trypanasoma cruzi

Figure 23.4
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Trypanosoma brucei
• Causes African sleeping sickness
• The insect vector is the tsetse fly
• Humans usually infected when bitten by infected
tsetse flies
The life cycle of T. brucei

Figure 23.5
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Trypanasoma brucei
• African sleeping sickness
• Progresses through three stages if left untreated
• Site of the fly bite becomes a lesion with dead
tissue
• Fever, lymph node swelling, and headaches
• Meningoencephalitis
• Infections characterized by cyclical waves of
parasitemia
• Clearing tsetse fly habitats reduce the cases of
disease
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Leishmania
• Causes leishmaniasis
• Endemic in parts of the tropics and subtropics
• Wild and domestic dogs and small rodents are
common hosts
• Leishmania have two developmental stages
• Amastigotes
• Multiply in host’s macrophages and
monocytes
• Promastigotes
• Develop extracellularly within a vector’s gut
The life cycle of Leishmania

Figure 23.6
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Leishmania
• Three clinical forms of leishmaniasis often
observed
• Cutaneous leishmaniasis
• Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis
• Visceral leishmaniasis
• Most cases of leishmaniasis heal without
treatment
• Prevention limited to reducing exposure to
reservoir and vector
Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis

Figure 23.7
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Giardia intestinalis
• Found in intestinal tracts of animals and in the
environment
• Causative agent of giardiasis
• Common gastrointestinal disease in the United States
• Ingest cysts in contaminated water or when swimming
• Range from asymptomatic infection to gastrointestinal
disease
• Giardia have a life cycle similar to that of Entamoeba
• Trophozoites multiply in the small intestines
• Prevent infections in endemic areas by use of filtered
water
Trophozoite of Giardia intestinalis

Figure 23.8
Protozoan Parasites of Humans
• Flagellates
• Trichomonas vaginalis
• Most common protozoan causing human disease in
industrialized nations
• Lives in the genitourinary system of men and women
• Transmitted almost exclusively via sex
• Occurs in people with preexisting STD or multiple sex
partners
• Infection of women results in vaginitis
• Infection of men is typically asymptomatic
• Prevention involves abstinence and safe sex
Trophozoite of Trichomonas
vaginalis

Figure 23.9