Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is an example of an accidental parasite?
What is an example of an accidental parasite?
What type of parasite completes its life cycle in or on one host?
What type of parasite completes its life cycle in or on one host?
What is the term for the organism where the parasite lives and causes harm?
What is the term for the organism where the parasite lives and causes harm?
What is the term for a person who has parasites in their body but does not show symptoms?
What is the term for a person who has parasites in their body but does not show symptoms?
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What type of parasite does not generally produce disease in healthy individuals but causes illness in individuals with impaired immunity?
What type of parasite does not generally produce disease in healthy individuals but causes illness in individuals with impaired immunity?
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What is the term for the presence of parasites in or on the tissues of the host?
What is the term for the presence of parasites in or on the tissues of the host?
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What is the term for the presence of arthropods on the skin of the host?
What is the term for the presence of arthropods on the skin of the host?
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What is an example of a vector-borne transmission?
What is an example of a vector-borne transmission?
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What is the term for a parasite that is able to produce disease?
What is the term for a parasite that is able to produce disease?
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What is the term for the degree of pathogenecity?
What is the term for the degree of pathogenecity?
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Study Notes
Parasitology
- Parasitology is the study of parasites and parasitic diseases, including methods for diagnosing and identifying parasites.
- A parasite is a living organism that acquires some of its basic nutritional requirements through its intimate contact with another living organism.
- Parasites are eukaryotes, having a well-defined chromosome in a nuclear membrane.
Types of Symbiosis
- Mutualism: reciprocal benefit between two organisms.
- Commensalism: one organism benefits, the other organism is neither benefited nor harmed.
- Parasitism: one organism benefits, the other organism is harmed.
Types of Parasites
- Endoparasite: a parasite that lives within another living organism (e.g., Plasmodium, Giardia).
- Ectoparasite: a parasite that lives on the external surface of another living organism (e.g., lice, ticks).
- Obligate parasite: an organism that cannot survive in any other manner (e.g., Plasmodium).
- Facultative parasite: an organism that may exist in a free-living state or as a commensal, becoming parasitic in suitable conditions (e.g., Naegleria fowleri).
- Accidental parasite: when a parasite attacks an unnatural host and survives (e.g., Hymenolepis diminuta, rat tapeworm).
- Intermittent parasite: arthropods that periodically feed on larger organisms (e.g., mosquitoes).
Host and Parasite Relationships
- Host: the organism where the parasite lives and causes harm.
- Definitive host: the host in which the sexual or adult form of parasite is found.
- Intermediate host: the host in which the asexual or immature, or larval form of the parasite is found.
- Patient: a person who has parasites in their body and shows clinical symptoms.
- Carrier: a person who has parasites in their body but does not show symptoms.
- Reservoir host: an animal that harbors the same species of parasites as humans, potentially transmitting them to humans.
Parasite Classification
- Non-pathogenic parasites: live in/on the body of the host and do not cause disease.
- Pathogenic parasites: disease-causing parasites.
- Opportunistic parasites: do not generally produce disease in healthy individuals but cause illness in individuals with impaired immunity.
Transmission and Infection
- Vector-borne transmission: transmission through vectors like mosquitoes.
- Human-to-human transmission: transmission from one human to another.
- Animal-to-human transmission: transmission from an animal to a human.
- Food-borne transmission: transmission through contaminated food.
- Water-borne transmission: transmission through contaminated water.
- Blood-borne transmission: transmission through contaminated blood.
- Sexual transmission: transmission through sexual contact.
- Congenital transmission: transmission from an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy.
- Infection: the presence of a parasite in or on the tissues of the host.
- Infestation: the presence of arthropods on the skin of the host.
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Description
Learn about the different ways parasitic diseases are transmitted, including vector-borne and congenital transmission, and how they are diagnosed through various methods.
