Parasitology is an important topic from various competitive as well as academic exams point of view. A large number of animals, microorganisms as well as plants are studied under this specialized field of biology.
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| TapeWorm (Intestinal Parasite) |
What is Parasitology?
It is a branch of biological science that studies the parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. It deals with the study of parasites and is concerned with the study of protozoans, helminths, and arthropods which are parasitic to the animal kingdom.
Watch my video on Introduction to Parasitology: https://youtu.be/Icf2SGK9CF8
What is a parasite?
The word Parasite comes from the Latin form of the Greek word 'Parasitos', which means, “One who eats at the table of another”. This means that a parasite is someone who depends on others. This simply means that parasites cannot survive independently in nature
According to Centres for Disease Control (CDC), a parasite has defined as an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.
Parasitism is a type of Symbiosis.
Symbiosis is any type of close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualism, commensalism, predation, neutralism, or parasitism
Parasitism is the intimate and continuous interaction between two heterospecific species, in which one species (parasite) is benefitted by obtaining food, shelter, or other physiological features while harming the other species (Host).
An organism which provides parasite with all the necessary biological requirement and is negatively affected is called as Host.
The parasite which lives inside the host has developed some specializations like increased fecundity, regeneration, polyembryony, and different mechanisms for transmission. Because, the host body will try to eliminate or overpower them as they are foreign bodies by producing WBCs, antibodies, diarrhea, mucus secretion, and so on. These are called host-parasite interactions.
A parasite can cause the destruction of host tissues, induce sterility, death rates, infect, and affects the nutritional status of the host. A successful parasite usually never kills the host but leaves in it as the death of the host will lead to its death.
A wide range of organisms is parasitic, from viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, to plants and animals Parasites include protozoans such as the causative agents of malaria, amoebic dysentery; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and strangler fig; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats.
Humans are hosts to nearly 300 species of parasitic worms and over 70 species of protozoa, some derived from our primate ancestors and some acquired from the animals we have domesticated or come in contact with during our relatively short history on Earth. However, all parasite does not cause disease, the disease-causing parasites are called as pathogenic parasites or pathogens.
Parasitism helps in regulating the population size and also in maintaining the balance of nature. It controls the population size and also ensures the continuous coexistence of both the host and parasite.
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