21. Protozoa (Entamoeba) Flashcards
what disease is caused by Entamoeba histolytica?
Amoebiasis
what is amoebiasis/amoebic dysentery?
harbouring of protozoa E. histolytica inside the body with or without disease symptoms
what is the name of the invasive form of Entamoeba?
E. histoytica
what is the non-invasive form of Entamoeba?
E. dispar
where is Entamoeba histolytica most common?
in the tropics and subtropics (up to 60%)
________ diminishes with treatment, but _______ remains.
Mortality
morbidity
what is Amoebiasis’ rank in parasitic causes of death worldwide?
third parasitic cause of death after malaria and schistosomiasis
Entamoeba histolytica is a _______ virulent pathogen
facultative
what is the percent of infected people that actually get the disease?
10%
what are the two types of infection?
- extra-intestinal
- intestinal, mild to severe
what are the modes of transmission of Amoebiasis?
- Direct contact of person to person (fecal‐oral)
- Food or drink contaminated with feces containing the E. histolytica cyst
- Use of human feces (night soil) for soil fertilizer
- Transmission among homosexuals (oral‐anal)
- Contamination of food by flies and possibly cockroaches
what are the host specificities of Amoebiasis?
- All age groups affected
- No gender or racial differences
- Institutional, community living
- Disease severe in children, old, and pregnant women
what are the common environmental conditions that allow for prevalence of E. histolytica?
- Low socio‐economic
- Poor sanitation, sewage leakage
- Night soil for agriculture
- Seasonal variation
what are the two stages of the Entamoeba histolytica life cycle?
- trophozoite: vegetative stage
- cyst: infective stage
what are two environmental characteristics of the trophozoite stage?
- it must encyst to survive the environment. it is a fragile structure
- it is a strict anaerobe
what are the environmental characteristics of the cyst stage?
- resistant to the harsh conditions of the environment
- sensitive to heat and freezing; last a few months in water
- resistant to chlorine; remove via flocculation/filtration
which of the two stages is:
- passed in feces
- resistant
- infective
cyst
which of the two stages is:
- feeding
- motile
- replicative
trophozoite
how many cysts are necessary for infection?
only 1 cyst, making it the most efficient pathogenic protozoa
what is the name of the vegetative stage?
trophozoite
what is the morphology of the E. histolytica nucleus?
- spherical, containing central karyosome
- on the inner surface membrane, evenly distributed small chromatin dots
what is contained in the food vacuoles?
- leukocytes
- bacteria (which they feed on)
- maybe RBCs
what is the morphology of the pre-cyst stage of Entamoeba histolytica?
‐ Round or oval
- blunt pseudopodia
‐ Single nucleus present
what is the morphology of the cyst stage?
‐ Four nuclei are present in mature quadrinucleated cyst
‐ Glycogen mass & chromatoid bodies are present in immature cysts – disappear in mature ones
what is the morphology of the karyosome?
- located in the center of the nucleus
- probably contains DNA
what do the chromatid bars look like?
- they are seen in cysts
- they are blunt rods or splinter shape. They eventually disappear as the cyst ages.
what is the mitosome?
remnant mitochondrion
what kind of membrane does the mitosome have?
a double membrane, like mitochondria