Parasites Flashcards
What are examples of Protozoans-single celled Eukaryotic organisms ?
- malaria
- giardia
What are examples of arthropods ?
- bot fly
- ticks
What are examples of worms ?
- hookworms
- roundworms
- pinworms
- tapeworms
What are some characteristics of Malaria ?
- carried by anopheles mosquitoes
- S&S: fever, chills, and flu like symptoms
- many places have mosquito nets to protect themselves
What are some characteristics of Giardia ?
- problem for long-distance hikers
- can live in water supply especially cold water
- not everyone shows symptoms
- cysts will go out of the body via waste
What causes the disease Giardiasis ?
an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism, giardia lamblia
What are some symptoms of Giardiasis ?
- abdominal pain
- diarrhea & nausea & vomiting
- gas or bloating
- HA
- loss of appetite
- low grade fever
- swollen or distended abdomen
What are treatments for Giardiasis ?
- some go away by themselves
- anti-infective medicines may be used
- cure rates greater than 80%
- pregnant women should wait until after delivery for tx
What are prevention strategies for Giardiasis ?
- purify water by boiling, filtering, or iodine treatment
- hikers or others who use surface water should consider all sources as potentially contaminated
- workers in day care should use good handwashing for children and parents
- safe sex (especially anal)
What is the life cycle of Giardiasis ?
- ingestion of dormant cysts
- trophozoite emerge to an active stage
- trophozoite undergo asexual replication
- not everyone exhibit symptoms
- encystation during transit toward the colon
- cysts and trophozoites expelled in the feces
- only cysts can survive outside of the host
- cyst can survive for weeks to months in cold water
What are some characteristics of Human bot flies ?
- South American parasite
What is the life cycle of the human bot fly ?
- female bot fly lays it eggs on the female mosquito
- once the mosquito lands on the human the body warmth causes the eggs to enter the bite mark the mosquito has left
- the butt of the bot fly egg will stick out of the bite mark hole to breathe
- it releases a painkiller effect so that you aren’t aware they are there and won’t feel them
- if you tear them off and leave a part of it behind it can cause an infection
What are some characteristics of ticks ?
- carry several types of diseases (rocky mountain spotted fever, lyme, anaplasmosis)
- carry microscopic organisms that can makes us sick
- start extremely small
What are characteristics of hookworms ?
- small worms that enter through the skin and eventually migrate to the small intestine
- have teeth that slice into and grab onto the small intestine
What is the life cycle of hookworms ?
- larvae migrate to the grass
- larvae penetrate skin causing “ground itch” and enter the bloodstream
- larvae enter lungs and alveolar spaces causing cough
- coughed-up larvae are swallowed
- larvae reach small intestine, mature, and start feeding
- eggs passed in feces
What are characteristics of roundworms ?
- ascaris lumbriocoides
- like to be in the large intestine
- very common, may infect 25% of population
- 12 to 40 cm long
- eggs can lay in soil for years
- indoor plumbing doesn’t control it as well as untreated sewage in water source
Why is roundworms dangerous in the intestines ?
- can crawl around
- large numbers of worms can tie in knots and block the intestine
- they absorb nutrients which leads to vitamin deficiency
- will need to be surgically removed
What is the most common pinworm ?
Enterobius vermicularis
- most common mimosoid infection
What are some S&S of pinworms ?
- Enterobiasis: anal itching, especially at night
- can lead to PID or vaginitis
- most common parasite in US
- at night females migrate out of the anus and lay eggs on skin
What are characteristics of tapeworms ?
- intestinal tape worm Echinococcus Granulosus and E. Multilocularis
- hooks on scolices to help them stay in place
What are some S&S of tapeworms ?
- Hydatid diease: hatch in the intestines, and larva migrates to lung, liver, bone, or brain
- build into a cyst that grows over a period of 10 or so years and can press on other organs or if it breaks, cause an allergic reaction
- can be mistaken for cancer
- with E. Multilocularis, buds break off and spread to other parts of the body including the brain, often with fatal results
- cyst is formed around it
