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NOTE: This is an updated version of Maria Katrina Bernabes o Where asexual process takes place
Transcribed Notes
DEFINITIVE OR FINAL HOST
o Where mature or adult forms of the parasites are
INTRODUCTION TO PARASITOLOGY found
o Where sexual cycle of some org. take place
In any field of study, it is important that the learner is
presented with the basic terminology used as well as application RESERVOIR HOSTS
and limitation of the different terms used. This will enable the o Some animals, domestic or wild, may serve as
reader an easier way of understanding matters the concerns a respiratory host to a parasite.
particular subject matter. o Man, in this case, is only incidentally involved but not
a natural host.
Terminology o Are of epidemiologic importance in the spread of
some infection since they have served as the ready
PARASITOLOGY and constant source of the infectious organisms to the
Is a branch of biology that deals with the phenomenon community.
of dependence of one living organism to another.
TRANSPORT/PARATHENIC HOST
CLINICAL (OR MEDICAL) PARASITOLOGY o Some parasites require passage through an
Primarily deals with animal parasites of man and their intermediate host before the infective stage (i.e. the
medical significance and importance in human specific developmental form capable of causing
communities. infection to man) is developed.
o The infective stage may not be transferred directly
PARASITES from intermediate to definitive host.
Are organisms that depend onto another living creature, o Instead, it may be passed to a transport host, whereby
referred to as the host, for survival.
no development or transformation of the parasite takes
Live at the expense of another organism place but infectivity is preserved.
o They are not essential in the life cycle of the parasite
OBLIGATE PARASITES
but may serve as another source of infection to man
Cannot survive without the assistance of the host.
aside from the natural intermediate host of the
Parasite is totally dependent and unable to multiply if
organism.
it is not in the body of a host.
Interrelationship of Organisms
FACULTATIVE PARASITES OR OPPORTUNISTS
Parasites that are able to adapt to a free-living or
Different organism exhibit various kinds of association with one
parasitic existence depending upon the condition.
another throughout their entire life
SPURIOUS PARASITES
Parasitic to other creatures but not to humans. SYMBIOSIS Close association of two organisms,
whereby a give and take relationship
Man may ingest these organisms and they pass through
exist
the alimentary canal, excreted in the feces, alive or dead, in the
unchanged state. MUTUALISM Relationship is beneficial to both
associates
Parasites, like other living creatures, undergo different stages of COMMENSALISM Parasite derives benefits without
development before reaching full maturity. Each set of reciprocating and/or without causing
metamorphosis results to a distinct stage of development. Some injury to the host
parasites may need a particular kind of host for a particular stage
of development.
Some big animals attack, kill, and use smaller ones for food. In this
HOST SPECIFICITY form of existence, the bigger animal is referred to as PREDATOR
The transformation and survival of a certain stage of while the smaller is called PREY.
development may not occur if the organism is in the body of
a non-appropriate host. SCAVENGERS
Animals that derive their nourishment from already dead
There are some parasites that do not inhabit only a single host ones either by devouring those that died of natural causes or
throughout their lifetime. Some organisms, while undergoing taking the leftovers of the predators.
development, inhabit a host different from the one where the
adult forms are found. The Process of Infection
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ENDOPARASITES
Those parasites found inside the body of their host BIOLOGIC VECTORS
the condition is called INFECTION Essential or needed in the life cycle of the parasite
The life cycle of some parasites will not be completed
Prior to the development of an infection, a person must be in a without the participation or involvement of a particular
situation considered at risk of acquiring it. biologic vector
Risk situation is called EXPOSURE
o Organism is given the chance to enter the body of PHORETIC/MECHANICAL VECTORS
the individual. Not necessarily needed in the life cycle
The process of introducing the organism into the body of Act as mechanical transmitters of the organism
the host (e.g. man) is called INOCULATION.
HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION
Parasites that successfully enter the body of a person may An organism coming from the body of a person and
establish a colony through reproduction. These organisms, inside transferred to another individual
the persons body, may be recovered in body fluids like blood, Man acquires many parasites, pathogenic and
urine, CSF, or tissues at that times that the organisms are still unable commensal ones, through horizontal transmission.
to produce signs and or/symptoms of the infection.
VERTICAL TRANSMISSION
BIOLOGIC INCUBATION/PRE-PATENT PERIOD An unborn baby may be infected with a parasite that
o Period of time from entry of the organism until they came from the mother via placental transfer
may be recovered in body fluids, tissues, or excreta, This process is responsible for congenital infection.
without any manifestation yet
Most parasites that cause infection to man originated from
Disease producing organisms will be able to produce signs and/or animals thus, commonly referred to as ZOONOTIC INFECTIONS.
symptoms of the infection later after inoculation. A person may excrete the infective form of an organism and this
stage of development may re-enter the persons body in the
CLINICAL INCUBATION PERIOD process of AUTOINFECTION.
o Period of time from the entry of the organism into the Autoinfection may occur via:
body of the host until the earliest sign and/or symptom o retrograde migration of the infective form
of the infection appear (retroinfection)
o outside part of body (external autoinfection).
Disease-producing organism (also called PATHOGEN or This process may lead to a severe type of infection in an
pathogenic organism), in certain conditions may not be able to individual without necessarily acquiring infective forms from
cause damage to the host and therefore unable to produce signs another person or other sources.
and/or symptoms of the infection. This condition is referred to as
INAPPARENT INFECTION, and the person who harbors such HETEROINFECTION Infective stages coming from another
pathogenic organism but without manifestation of the infection source of the same species
(i.e. the person is asymptomatic) is called a CARRIER. Other
SUPERINFECTION An already infected individual and has
susceptible individuals, who later manifest the infection, may
been re-infected with the same species of
acquire the infection from carriers.
the parasite
MIXED INFECTION A person may be harboring more than one
Parasites have specific developmental forms with the ability to
species of organism at the same time.
enter the human body to initiate an infection process. The
developmental form of the parasite capable to doing so is called
INFECTIVE STAGE.
DELUSIONAL PARASITOSIS
There are some individuals who may think they are
PATHOGENIC STAGE is the developmental form may or may not
infected with some bizarre parasite but in reality, no such
be able to cause pathologic damage but is the only stage that
parasite exists in their bodies.
can enter the body of the host.
Sources of Parasitic Infection
There are some parasites whose infective form, as well as their
mature stages, can cause pathologic damage or disease to man.
Contaminated soil
In certain species, the infective stage may also be the pathogenic
Ascaris lumbricoides Embryonated Egg
form and vice versa.
Necator americanus Filariform Larva
Ancylostoma duodenale Filariform Larva
Some animals serve to transfer the infective stage of an organism
Strongyloides stercoralis Filariform Larva
from one source to another. The transfer may be from one person
to another, from an animal to a human being, or from inanimate
Cause soil transmitted infections
objects into a person. Commonly, the animals that transfer the
organism or parasite are various kinds of insects.
Contaminated water
Pathogenic amoeba
VECTOR/TRANSMITTERS
These animals that transfer the infective form
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Occlusion: A single worm can occlude the alveoli or can The medical technologist plays a very important role in the
go down and occlude the appendix. An occlusion can diagnosis of infections with parasites. Diagnosis of parasitic
cause trauma infection is, oftentimes, based on identification of organism in
specimen submitted to the laboratory. The technologist,
LYTIC NECROSIS therefore, should be very accurate in the identification of the
Amoeba histolytica they invade the tissue causing organisms.
necrosis.
Balantidium coli they have hyaluronidase which lyse Different diagnostic tests in Parasitology may be classified as
the tissue causing necrosis. either direct or indirect.
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Serologic tests
are also available, although expensive, for the diagnosis
of human infections with:
o Echinococcus granulosus
o Trichinella spiralis
o Leishmania donovani, etc.
Xenodiagnosis
May be used to diagnose infection with some parasites
such as Trypanosoma cruzi.
In this method, a laboratory-bred insect, the one that
serves as vector to the organisms, is allowed to feed on the
blood of individuals suspected to be infected with the
parasite.
The feces of the insect is then examined for the presence
of the organism after sometime. BREAK!
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Not have space anymore between the nuclear It is more likely that these inclusion bodies are observed in
membrane and the karyosome. the cyst form of the parasite.
o Balantidium coli
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Protective Encystation
Parasite undergoes encystation without significant
changes in the morphology
Aimed to protect the organism
happens, for example, when the parasite is about to be
excreted and transferred into a new host
Example: Balantidium coli
Reproductive Encystations
Is characterized with multiplication of the nucleus in the
cyst form thus resulting to numerous daughter organisms
when the parasite later transforms into the trophozoite form.
Organisms include:
o Entamoeba histolytica
o Entamoeba coli
o Giardia lamblia, etc.
EXCYSTATION
Cyst stage of parasite undergoes excystation to produce
trophozoites. The process is, probably, favored by the
following factors:
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