Parasitic Protozoa,

Helminths, and
Arthropod Vectors
GROUP 6
SLIDESMANIA
 PARASITES
Parasitic infections often involve several
hosts- a definitive host in which mature
(often sexual) forms of the parasite are
present and usually reproducing and,
with many parasites, one or more
intermediate hosts in which immature
parasites undergo various stages of
SLIDESMANIA

maturation.
 Protozoan Parasites of Humans
Majority of protozoa are free living and do not affect humans or
animals, some can cause debilitating and deadly disease. Most
protozoa have two morphological forms: (1) A feeding and
reproducing stage called a trophozoite and (2) A dormant cyst
stage.

Once ingested by a host, cysts undergo excystment and develop

into new trophozoites, which resume feeding and reproducing.
In most cases, trophozoites undergo encystment before leaving
the host in the feces, becoming available to infect other hosts.
SLIDESMANIA
 Classical Groupings for
Parasites based on Mode of
Locomotion
SLIDESMANIA
 CILIAT
ES
Are protozoa that in their trophozoite
locomotion, for acquiring food, or both.
stages use cilia for

Balantidium Coli
 a relatively large (50 µm x 100 µm) ciliate commonly found
in animal intestinal tracts
 Is the only ciliate known to cause disease in humans
 Its common hosts are pigs, but it is also found in rodents and
nonhuman primates
 Causes infection known as balantidiasis on individuals with poor health
characterized by persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss
SLIDESMANIA
 AMOEBAE
Are protozoa that have no truly defined shape and that move and acquire
food through the use of pseudopods

Entamoeba
• Is the most important amoebic pathogen
• is carried asymptomatically in the digestive tracts of roughly 10% of the
world’s human population
• Infection occurs most commonly through the drinking of water
contaminated with feces that contain cysts
• Causes an infection known as amebiasis. There are three types of
amebiasis: (1) luminal amebiasis, (2) amebic dysentery, and (3) invasive
extraintestinal amebiasis.
SLIDESMANIA
 Acanthamoeba and Naegleria
• Causes rare and usually fatal infections of the brain
• Are common free-living inhabitants of warm lakes, ponds,
puddles, ditches, mud, and moist soil
• Are also found in artificial water systems such as swimming
pools, air-conditioning units, humidifiers, and dialysis units

Acanthamoeba
• Usually enters a host through cuts or scrapes on the skin,
through the conjunctiva via abrasions from contact lenses or
trauma, or through inhalation of contaminated water while
swimming
• Causes an infection called amebic encephalitis (inflammation
of the brain), characterized by headache, altered mental state,
and neurological deficit
SLIDESMANIA
 Naegleria
• May assume a flagellated form in addition to its amoeboid and cyst stages
• Occurs when swimmers inhale water contaminated with trophozoites, which then
invade the nasal mucosa and replicate. The trophozoites migrate to the brain,
where they cause an amebic meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain
and its membranes).
• Severe headache, fever, vomiting, and neurological tissue destruction lead to
hemorrhage, coma, and usually death within three to seven days after the onset of
symptoms.
SLIDESMANIA
 FLAGELL
ATES
Are protozoa that possess at least one long flagellum, which is used for
movement. The number and arrangement of the flagella are important features
for determining the species of flagellate present within a host.

Trypanosoma cruzi
• causes Chagas’ disease.
• Transmission occurs through the bite of true bugs, a type of insect in the
genus Triatoma
• These bloodsucking bugs feed preferentially from blood vessels in the lips,
which gives the bugs their common name kissing bugs.
SLIDESMANIA
 Figure 23.3 The life cycle of
Trypanosoma cruzi. Triatoma, the
vector, is shown life size.
SLIDESMANIA
 Trypanosoma brucei
• causes African sleeping sickness, which afflicts more than 10,000 people
annually in equatorial and subequatorial savanna, agricultural, and riverine
areas of Africa.
• Its geographical range depends on the range of its insect vector, the tsetse fly
(Glossina)
• There are two variants of Trypanosoma brucei: (1) Trypanosoma brucei
gambiense (western Africa) and (2) Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (eastern
& southern Africa).
SLIDESMANIA
 Figure 23.5 The life cycle of
Trypanosoma brucei. Glossina is
shown life-size.
SLIDESMANIA
 The life cycle of Trypanosoma brucei differs from Trypanosoma cruzi in
several ways:
 Trypanosoma brucei matures in the salivary gland of the tsetse fly,
whereas Trypanosoma cruzi matures in the hindgut of the kissing bug.
 Tsetse flies directly inject Trypanosoma brucei. In contrast, the host rus
Trypanosoma cruzi found in a kissing bug’s feces into a wound.
 Trypanosoma brucei remains outside its hosts’ cells, whereas amastigotes
of Trypanosoma cruzi live inside host cells.
SLIDESMANIA