PARASITOLOGY

INTESTINAL AND LUMINAL PROTOZOA

ORGANISM TRANSMISSION SYMPTOMS TREATMENT

GI: Iodoquinol or
Dysentery with blood and
Entamoeba necrotic tissue.
Oro -fecal Metronidazole
histolytica
Chronic: abscesses
Abscess: Metronidazole

Fowl -smelling, bulky

Iodoquinol or
Giardia lamblia Oro -fecal diarrhea; blood or
Metronidazole.
necrotic tissue rare.

Dysentery with blood and

Iodoquinol or
Balantidium coli Oro -fecal; zoonotic necrotic tissue but no
Metronidazole.
abscesses.

Cryptosporidium
Oro -fecal Diarrhea Paromycin (investigational)
parvum

Isospora belli Oro -fecal Giardiasis -like Sulpha drugs

Trichomonas Vaginitis; occasional

Sexual Mebendazole
vaginalis urethritis/prostatitis.

BLOOD AND TISSUE PROTOZOA

ORGANISM TRANSMISSION DISEASE/SYMPTOMS TREATMENT

Sleeping sickness; cardiac Blood stage: Suramin or

Trypanosoma brucei Tsetse fly.
failure. petamidine isothionate;

Chagas disease: CNS: melarsoprol

T. cruzi Reduvid (kissing) bug. megacolon, cardiac Nifurtimox and
failure. Benzonidazole.

Visceral leish -maniasis,

Pentosam; Pentamidine
Leishmania donovani Sand fly granulo -matous skin
isethionate.
lesions.

L. tropica Sand fly. Cutaneous lesions. As for L. donovani.

L. braziliensis Sand fly Mucocutaneous lesions. As for L. donovani.

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Plasmodium falciparum Quinine derivatives
Malarial paroxysm: chills,
Female anopheline
fever, headache, nausea
P. ovale, P. malariae mosquito. Proguanil
cycles.
and P. vivax Lariam

Hemolytic anemia,
Babesia microti Tick None; self resolving.
Jaundice and fever

Adult: flu like;

Oral from cat fecal
material; Sulphonamides,
Toxoplasma gondii congenital: abortion, pyemethamine, possibly
neonatal blindness and spiramycin (non -FDA).
or meat
neuropathies.

NEMATODES
ORGANISM TRANSMISSION SYMPTOMS TREATMENT

Abdominal pain,
Ascaris lumbricoides Oro -fecal weight loss, distended Mebendazole
abdomen

Depends on worm
location and burden:
gastroenteritis; edema,
muscle pain, spasm; Corticosteroid and
Trichinella spiralis Poorly cooked pork
eosinophilia, Mebendazole
tachycardia, fever, chill
headache, vertigo,
delirium, coma, etc .

Abdominal pain, bloody

Trichuris trichiura Oro -fecal diarrhea, prolapsed Mebendazole
rectum

Peri -anal pruritus, rare

Enterobius Pyrental pamoate
Oro -fecal abdominal pain,
vermicularis or Mebendazole
nausea vomiting

Itching at infection site,

rash due to larval
migration, verminous
Strongyloides pneumonia, mid - Ivermectin or
Soil -skin, autoinfection
stercoralis epigastric pain, nausea, Thiabendazole
vomiting, bloody
dysentery, weight loss
and anemia

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Necator americanes; Maculopapular
Ancylostoma erythema (ground itch),
duodenale Oro -fecal (egg); skin broncho -pneumonitis,
Mebendazole
penetration (larvae) epigastric pain, GI
hemorrhage, anemia,
(Hookworms) edema

Dracunculus Blistering skin,

Oral: cyclops in water Mebendazole
medinensis irritation, inflammation

Wuchereria bancrofti; Recurrent fever, lymph -

W. brugia malayi adenitis, splenomegaly, Mebendazole; Diethyl -
Mosquito bite
lymphedema, carbamazine
(elephantiasis) elephantiasis

Nodular and
erythematous dermal Mebendazole; Diethyl -
Onchocerca volvulus Black fly bite
lesions, eosinophilia, carbamazine
urticaria, blindness

Loa loa Deer fly As in onchocerciasis Diethyl -carbamazine

CESTODES
ORGANISM TRANSMISSION SYMPTOMS TREATMENT

Epigastric pain,
Taenia saginata Cyst in beef Praziquantel
vomiting, diarrhea

Epigastric pain,
Taenia solium Cyst in pork Praziquantel
vomiting, diarrhea

Muscle pain and

T. solium
Oro -fecal weakness, ocular and Praziquantel
Cysticercosis
neurologic problems

Abdominal pain, loss of

Diphyllobothrium weight, anorexia,
Cyst in fish Praziquantel
latum malnutrition and B12
deficiency problems

Large cysts produce

various symptoms Surgery, formalin
Echinococcus
Oro -fecal depending on the injection and drainage,
granulosus
location of the Praziquantel
organism.

Echinococcus
Oro -fecal As above Surgery, Albendazole
multiloculoris

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 TREMATODES
ORGANISM TRANSMISSION SYMPTOMS TREATMENT

Schistosoma mansoni,
S. japonicum
Dermatitis, abdominal
pain, bloody stool, peri -
skin penetration by
portal fibrosis, hepato - Praziquantel
cercaria
splenomegaly, ascites,
CNS

Dermatitis, urogenital
Schistosoma skin penetration by
cystitis, urethritis and Praziquantel
hematobium cercaria
bladder carcinoma

Epigastric pain, nausea,

Metacercaria on water
Fasciolopsis buski diarrhea, edema, Praziquantel,
chestnut
ascites

Chlonorchis sinensis, Inflammation and

deformation of bile
Cysts in fish Praziquantel
Opisthorchis felinus, duct, hepatitis, anemia
or O. viverini and edema

Cough (dry / rusty

brown sputum),
Paragonimus
Cyst in crab meat pulmonary pain, Praziquantel
westermani
pleurisy, tuberculosis -
like

ANTHELMINTICS
Pyrantel Pamoate
a depolarizing blocking agent that causes spastic paralysis to susceptible helminths

Thiabendazole
MOA: Inhibits the helminth -specific enzyme fumarate reductase

Mebendazole
MOA:
-Irreversibly blocks glucose uptake in susceptible helminths
-Inhibits Microtubule synthesis

Ivermectin
MOA: Blocks Interneuron -motorneuron transmission in nematodes by stimulating the release of the inhibitory
neurotransmitter GABA.

Praziquantel
considered as the DOC for most Cestodal & Trematodal Infection

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