parasitology

Diseases caused by parasites are known as parasitoses. The parasitology is a medical specialty that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of these parasitic diseases.

What is the parasitology?

A parasite is an organism that needs a host to survive and attacks it for the purpose of reproduction. It damages the foreign organism that serves it as a host by destroying its cells, impairing the functions of its organs and depriving it of nutrients.

This process causes various complaints and diseases that can be fatal, but not necessarily. Parasites transmit pathogens in the form of viruses and bacteria. Parasitology is closely related to bacteriology, mycology, tropical medicine, human infectious diseases and virology.

Treatments & therapies

The mosquito-borne leishmaniasis infects people with protozoa. The trichomonads infection is transmitted through sexual intercourse. Schistosomiasis (schistosomiasis) develops through flukes (schistosomes). The parasites enter the human cycle through contaminated water. The tsetse fly is responsible for sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), which is widespread in the tropical regions of Africa. The tapeworm infection can spread to humans through contaminated or insufficiently heated beef.

In toxoplasmosis, cats serve as final hosts with mammals and birds as intermediate hosts. Lyme disease, Japanese typhus, early summer meningoencephalitis and typhus are transmitted by ectoparasites such as fleas, ticks, mites or lice. Mosquito-borne malaria is one of the most famous and widespread diseases in tropical regions. Parasitoses are rarely found in the northern hemisphere. Most infectious diseases originate in the tropical regions. Some parasites are harmless to healthy people and are eliminated after a certain period of time.

Some remain for a lifetime without causing damage. Most of the people in the northern hemisphere are not infected with native parasites, but rather drag them in after traveling to the affected regions. The unwanted guests appear as ectoparasites (external parasites) on the organism or as endoparasites (internal parasites) within the organism. Ectoparasites can be found externally in the hair, on the skin or in the clothing of their host. Endoparasites attack the organism from the inside and lodge in the blood, intestines and tissue. The parasites attack people, animals and plants.

Some “delight” their host only temporarily (intermediate host) with their presence, while others nestle permanently with their host (stationary host).The first symptoms of parasitosis appear with a time delay analogous to the incubation period. In the case of infections, the period between the infestation with parasites and the recognizability of eggs or larvae is called prepatency. The technical term describes the period until the parasites are excreted as patents. Most parasites go through a generation change.

They develop obligatory (compulsory) or facultative (optional) in one, several, the same or different hosts. Monoxone parasites attack one host, polyxene parasites several hosts. Homoxone parasites go through the entire development cycle in a host, while heteroxene parasites go through a development cycle with host change. The propagation takes place in the final host. If the uninvited subtenants preferentially attack a host, this is referred to as the main host. Side hosts are hardly affected by parasite infestation, while transport hosts (intermediate hosts) serve exclusively to transport the parasites from one host to another. There is either no or only gender-neutral (asexual) reproduction.

The reservoir host stores the parasites as an alternative for further colonization. If a parasite settles in an organism in which its reproduction is unsuccessful, it is a false host. Small parasites hide in the cells of the infected organism and can no longer be reached by the immune system. An example of such a parasitic infestation are erythrocytes, which are caused by plasmodia.

The parasites are very adaptable and develop various strategies to outsmart their host's defense mechanisms. They change the surface structure as soon as the host activates its immune system. They shed their skin and form a new skin. This changed appearance is not recognized by the antibodies for the time being, since new ones have to be produced in order to react to the changed initial parasitic situation. The current antibodies only react to the already deposited skin and the proteins on the surface.

Diagnosis & examination methods

If a parasite stays in its host's organism for a lifetime, it creates various mechanisms in order not to be recognized by the antigens as a foreign body. To achieve this goal, he surrounds himself with the antigens of his host. A good example of this is infestation with trypanosomes. A large number of the uninvited guests have developed an extremely thick cuticle, which is not recognized by the host's antibodies.

There are different parasites, which are divided into three groups: Protozoa are spore animals such as sporozoa, taxoplasms, plasmodia, amoebas, trichomonads, leishmanias and trypanosomes. Helminths are tapeworms, roundworms, and hookworms. Arthropods (arthropods) appear as lice, ticks, mosquitoes and fleas. Parasitology deals with the diagnosis and treatment of parasitically transmitted infectious diseases. Parasitologists carry out microbiological examinations of swabs, body fluids and tissue samples. The samples are taken in a suitable quantity before the therapy measures.

The extraction point is cleaned before it is carried out in order to prevent contamination and contamination of the material. The samples are then placed in sterile transport vessels (blood culture bottles, tubes). The doctors work with suitable collection and transport equipment (tapes, swabs, syringes, swabs) to protect the pathogens from drying out, overgrowing and dying off. The samples are identified by an accompanying note that includes the time and place of collection, preliminary diagnosis, therapeutic approaches and the question. A short time window of two to three hours is available for the sample transport.

Otherwise, an preservation time of 24 hours applies. Urine, stool and catheter syringes are kept in the refrigerator. Blood cultures, smears, aspirates, ejaculates, lavages, tissues and punctures are not susceptible even at room temperature. Helicobacter biopsies and liquor must be stored in the incubator. As test material, skin flakes, skin capsules, epilated hair (dermatophytes), smears from the nose, tongue, tonsils and throat (upper airways), bronchial secretions, sputum (deep airways), bladder puncture, catheter urine, midstream urine (urinary tract), blood cultures, liquor (sepsis) are suitable ), Bioptat, Exprimat (urogenital tract), stool samples, parasite parts (parasitic, bacterial, viral intestinal infestation).

Typical & common diseases caused by parasites

• malaria
• Lice infestation (pediculosis)
• Pinworms
• Roundworms
• Tapeworm
• Trichomoniasis (trichomonads infection)
• Toxoplasmosis