parasites
Table of Contents
parasites
see also:
classification of parasites
protozoa:
- NB. unicellular or acellular animals (eucaryotic);
- sarcomastigophora (motile elements)
- amoebae (pseudopods)
- Entamoeba (anaerobe) - causes amoebiasis
- Naegleria (aerobe) - may cause meningitis from thermal baths
- Hartmanella (aerobe) - may cause meningitis from thermal baths
- flagellates (flagella)
- intestinal
- Trichomonas eg. Trichomonas vaginalis - a cause of sexually transmitted infections (STDs/STIs)
- Giardia may cause gastroenteritis, see giardiasis
- visceral/blood
- Trypanosoma - Trypanosoma brucei causes sleeping sickness; Trypanosoma cruzi causes Chagas disease
- Leishmania - may cause cutaneous lesions from sandfly bites
- ciliophora (cilia)
- Balantidium
- sporozoa (non-motile, alternate sexual/asexual cycles)
- Plasmodium - see malaria
- Toxoplasma - mainly through contact with cats, a potential issue during pregnancy see toxoplasmosis
- Pneumocystis - Pneumocystis carinii is a significant cause of pneumonia in the immunocompromised such as those with HIV / AIDS
metazoa (helminths):
- NB. multicellular animals (worms, insects, etc.);
flat worms:
- monogeneans:
- very small parasitic flatworms mainly found on skin or gills of fish, and also in the urinary bladder and rectum of cold-blooded vertebrates.
- none infect birds, and only one (Oculotrema hippopotami) infects mammals, parasitizing the eye of the hippopotamus.
- Trematodes (flukes) - watersnails eat eggs → cerceriae;
- Schistosoma (invade skin if swim→adults in venous complexes) - see schistosomiasis
- Fasciola (aquatic plant ingested→adults in liver)
- Opistorchis (raw fish ingested→adults in liver)
- Paragonimus (raw crustaceae ingested→adults in lung)
- Cestodes (tapeworms)
- Taenia
- saginata (rare beef ingested → adult in GIT)
- solium (rare pork ingested→adult GIT→cysticerci tissues)
- Echinococcus (dog faeces ingested→hydatid cysts liver, etc) - see echinococcosis (hydatids)
- Hymenolepis
Round worms (Nematodes):
- No intermediate host
- Direct infection
- Enterobius (pinworm) - a major problem with school children
- Soil maturation needed
- Trichuris (whipworm) (caecum);
- Ascaris (adult small bowel→larvae lungs)
- Ancylostoma & Necator (hookworms) (skin→lung→duodenum)
- Strongloides (skin→lung→GIT) - see strongyloidiasis
- Toxocara
- Intermediate host needed
- Trichinella (rare pork→jejunal mucosa)
- Anisakis (raw fish → GIT)
- Dracunculus (ingested water flea → GIT → skin)
- Angiostrongylus (eat snails→liver→heart/lungs/CNS) ⇒ angiostrongyliasis
- most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis in SE Asia and Pacific Basin
- filariae cause filariasis
- Onchocerca volvulus (biting black fly)(skin itch→LN→“river blindness” see onchocerciasis / river blindness)
- Onchocercidae Loa Loa (biting deer flies and yellow flies) ⇒ Calabar swellings, itching, swelling in the eye
- Wuchereria bancrofti (mosquitoes)(adult in lymph→pre-larvae blood/lung ⇒ elephantiasis)
- Brugia (mosquitoes)(as for Wuchereria)
- Dirofilaria (mosquitoes)(die readily in man→granuloma lung)
- Mansonella
ectoparasites
- insects that attach or burrow into the skin and remain there for relatively long periods of time (e.g., weeks to months) such as:
parasites.txt · Last modified: 2022/05/11 22:02 by gary1