Parasite

• It is an animal or plant which lives in or upon

another organism(technically called its host)
and draws its nutriment directly from it.
• By this definition all infectious agents,
viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and
helminths are parasites.
• Traditionally protozoa , helnimths and
medical arthropod are called parasites.
 Types
Ectoparasites
• Ectoparasite, the parasite which lives on the outer surface or in the superficial
tissues of the host(e.g., lice).
• The infection by these parasites is called infestation.
 Endoparasite
• The parasite which lives within the host is
called the endoparasite(e.g, tapeworm).
• Invasion by the parasite is called infection.
• Usually, the endoparasites cause most
human diseases.
• 3 types
• Obligative parasites
• Facultative parasite
• Accidental parasites
 Obligative parasites
• They are physiologically dependent upon their hosts for its habitat and
nourishment.
• Usually cannot survive if kept isolated from them.
• The obligate parasite is also known as holoparasite.
• Example: Toxoplasma gondii (Toxoplasmosis)
 Facultative parasites
• the parasite may live in the absence of a host and occasionally
become parasitic under certain conditions.
• Example:  Naegleria fowleri,
• A free-living amoeba that on some occasions may infect humans.
 Accidental parasites
• The parasite which attacks an unusual host.
• Accidental hosts can be any kind of host.
• Examples: humans with fish parasites (likely a result of diet)
• Ticks which can feed on humans as accidental hosts, rather than their normal
deer or forest animal hosts
• Dog tapeworm (echinococcus granulosus)
 Host
• Host is defined as an organism which harbours the parasite and
provides the nourishment and shelter.
• These hosts, in comparison to their parasites are relatively larger in
size.
• The hosts may be of the following types:
• Definitive host
• Intermediate host
• Reservoir host
• Paratenic host
 Definitive Host
• The hosts which harbour the adult parasites(e.G., Taenia saginata causing
intestinal taeniasis),
• Most highly developed form of the parasite(e.G., Trypanosoma cruzi causing
african sleeping sickness)
• Where the parasite replicates sexually(e.G., Paragonimus westermani) are
called the definitive hosts.
• The definitive hosts may be human or non-human living things.
Plasmodium
Hosts
 Intermediate host
• The hosts which harbour the larval stages of parasite development, or
the asexual forms of the parasite are called intermediate host.
• Some times two different hosts may be required to complete different
larval stages.
• These are known as the first and second intermediate hosts
respectively
• (e.g., snails are the first intermediate hosts and fresh water fish are
the second intermediate hosts for chines liver fluke).
 Reservoir host
• The animal which harbours the parasites and serves as an important
source of infection to other susceptible hosts are known as reservoir
host
• (e.g., water buffalo is the reservoir host for schistosomiasis)
 Paratenic host or transport host
• The larva of some parasites can invade a non-normal host, but can
not develop, and only keep the larva stage.
• If the larva enter a normal definitive host, it can continue to develop
into adult worm.
• The non-normal host is called paratenic host or transport host.
• It functions as a transport or carrier host