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Introduction to Para

Parasitology studies the dependence of organisms on one another, focusing on human parasites and their medical significance. Symbiotic relationships include commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism, with various classifications of parasites based on their relationship with hosts. Prevention and control measures include environmental management, sanitation, and treatment strategies like deworming and preventive chemotherapy to reduce morbidity and transmission of infections.

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3 views

Introduction to Para

Parasitology studies the dependence of organisms on one another, focusing on human parasites and their medical significance. Symbiotic relationships include commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism, with various classifications of parasites based on their relationship with hosts. Prevention and control measures include environmental management, sanitation, and treatment strategies like deworming and preventive chemotherapy to reduce morbidity and transmission of infections.

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nyabuti300
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Parasitology is the area of biology concerned with the phenomenon of dependence of one living

organism on another.

Medical Parasitology is concerned primarily with parasites of humans and their medical significance, as
well as their importance in human communities.

Symbiosis is the living together of unlike organisms. It may also involve protection or other advantages to
one or both organisms.

Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which two species live together and one species benefits
from the relationship without harming or benefiting the other for instance Entamoeba coli in the
intestinal lumen are supplied with nourishment and are protected from harm, while it does not cause
any damage to the tissues of its host.

Mutualism is a symbiosis in which two organisms mutually benefit from each other like termites and the
flagellates in their digestive system, which synthesize cellulase to aid in the breakdown of ingested wood.

Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship where one organism, the parasite, lives in or on another, depending
on the latter for its survival and usually at the expense of the host for instance Entamoeba histolytica,
which derives nutrition from the human host and causes amebic dysentery.

A parasite living inside the body of a host is known as an endoparasite, whereas a parasite living outside
the body of a host is an ectoparasite

The presence of an endoparasite in a host is called an infection, while the presence of an ectoparasite on
a host is called an infestation

A parasite is considered erratic when it is found in an organ which is not its usual habitat.

Most parasites are obligate parasites in that they need a host at some stage of their life cycle to
complete their development and to propagate their species.

A facultative parasite may exist in a free-living state or may become parasitic when the need arises

A parasite, which establishes itself in a host where it does not ordinarily live, is called an accidental or
incidental parasite.

A permanent parasite remains on or in the body of the host for its entire life, while a temporary parasite
lives on the host only for a short period of time.

A spurious parasite is a free-living organism that passes through the digestive tract without infecting the
host.

Host is defined as an organism, which harbors the parasite and provides nourishment and shelter to
latter and is relatively larger than the parasite while a vector is an agent, usually an arthropod that
transmits an infection from man to man or from other animals to man, e.g. female Anopheles is the
vector of malarial parasite.

Exposure is the process of inoculating an infective agent, while infection connotes the establishment of
the infective agent in the host.
Disease eradication is defined as a permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection
caused by a specific agent, as a result of deliberate efforts once this is achieved, continued measures are
no longer needed while disease elimination is a reduction to zero of the incidence of a specified disease
in a defined geographic area as a result of deliberate efforts. Continued intervention or surveillance
measures are still required.

Prevention and control

Morbidity control- Avoidance of illness caused by infection may be achieved by periodically deworming
individuals or groups known to be a risk of morbidity.

Information-education -communication (IEC) -Is a health education strategy that aims to encourage
people to adapt maintain healthy life practices.

Environmental management - is the planning, organization, performance, and monitoring of activities for
the modification and/or manipulation of environmental factors or their interaction with human beings
with a view to preventing or minimizing vector or intermediate host propagation and reducing contact
between humans and the infective agent.

Environmental sanitation involves interventions to reduce environmental health risks including the safe
disposal and hygienic management of human and animal excreta, refuse, and waste water. It covers the
provision of safe drinking water and food safety; housing that is adequate in terms of location, quality of
shelter, and indoor living conditions facilities for personal and domestic hygiene; as well as safe and
healthy working conditions.

Sanitation is the provision of access to adequate facilities for the safe disposal of human excreta, usually
combined with access to safe drinking water.

Treatment-Deworming is the use of anthelminthic drugs in an individual or a public health program. Cure
rate refers to the number (usually expressed as a percentage) of previously positive subjects found to be
egg negative on examination of a stool or urine sample using a standard procedure at a set time after
deworming. Selective treatment involves individual-level deworming with selection for treatment based
on a diagnosis of infection or an assessment of the intensity of infection or based on presumptive
grounds. Targeted treatment is group-level deworming where the (risk) group to be treated (without
prior diagnosis) may be defined by age, sex, or other social characteristics irrespective of infection status.

Universal treatment is population-level deworming in which the community is treated irrespective of


age, sex, infection status, or other social characteristics.

Preventive Chemotherapy is the regular, systematic, large-scale intervention involving the administration
of one or more drugs to selected population groups with the aim of reducing morbidity and transmission
of selected helminth infections.

Cure rate and egg reduction rate are indicators that are commonly used to measure the reduction in
prevalence and reduction in intensity of infection, respectively. Drug resistance is a genetically
transmitted loss of susceptibility to a drug in a parasite population that was previously sensitive to the
appropriate therapeutic dose.

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