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Cestode
Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of many similar units known as proglottids—essentially packages of eggs which are regularly shed into the environment to infect other organisms. Species of the other subclass, Cestodaria, are mainly fish infecting parasites. All cestodes are parasitic; many have complex life histories, including a stage in a definitive (main) host in which the adults grow and reproduce, often for years, and one or two intermediate stages in which the larvae develop in other hosts. Typically the adults live in the digestive tracts of vertebrates, while the larvae often live in the bodies of other animals, either vertebrates or invertebrates. For example, '' Diphyllobothrium'' has at least two intermediate hosts, a crustacean and then one or more freshwater fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proglottids
Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of many similar units known as proglottids—essentially packages of eggs which are regularly shed into the environment to infect other organisms. Species of the other subclass, Cestodaria, are mainly fish infecting parasites. All cestodes are parasitic; many have complex life histories, including a stage in a definitive (main) host in which the adults grow and reproduce, often for years, and one or two intermediate stages in which the larvae develop in other hosts. Typically the adults live in the digestive tracts of vertebrates, while the larvae often live in the bodies of other animals, either vertebrates or invertebrates. For example, '' Diphyllobothrium'' has at least two intermediate hosts, a crustacean and then one or more freshwater fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flatworm
The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates. Unlike other bilaterians, they are acoelomates (having no body cavity), and have no specialized circulatory and respiratory organ (anatomy), organs, which restricts them to having flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion. The digestive cavity has only one opening for both ingestion (intake of nutrients) and egestion (removal of undigested wastes); as a result, the food cannot be processed continuously. In traditional medicinal texts, Platyhelminthes are divided into Turbellaria, which are mostly non-parasitic animals such as planarians, and three entirely parasitic groups: Cestoda, Trematoda and Monogenea; however, since the turbellarians have since been prove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tegument (helminth)
Tegument is a term in helminthology for the outer body covering of members of the phylum Platyhelminthes. The name is derived from a Latin word ''tegumentum'' or ''tegere'', meaning "to cover". It is characteristic of flatworms including the broad groups of tapeworms and flukes. Once considered to be a non-living component, it is now known to be a dynamic cellular structure. In fact it is a living structure consisting of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and RNA. It forms the protective layer and the host-parasite interface of the worms, serving both secretory and absorptive functions.Cheng TC (1986). ''General Parasitology, 2nd edn''. Academic Press, Division of Hardcourt Brace & Company, USA, pp. 253-2546. Structure and composition The fine structure of tegument is essentially the same in both the cestodes and trematodes. A typical tegument is 7-16 μm thick, with distinct layers. It is a syncytium consisting of multinucleated tissues with no distinct cell boundaries. The outer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymenolepis (tapeworm)
''Hymenolepis'' is a genus of cyclophyllid tapeworms responsible for hymenolepiasis. They are parasites of humans and other mammals. The focus in this article is in ''Hymenolepis'' commonly parasitizing humans. Species include: * '' Hymenolepis apodemi'' - in rodents * '' Hymenolepis asymetrica'' — in rodents * ''Hymenolepis diminuta'' — in humans * '' Hymenolepis horrida'' — in rodents * '' Hymenolepis rymzhanovi'' - in rodents * '' Hymenolepis microstoma'' — in rodents * ''Hymenolepis nana'' — in humans Signs and symptoms Most infections do not have many worms and therefore can have no symptoms. Patients with more than 15,000 eggs per gram of stool may experience cramps, diarrhea, irritability, anorexia, or enteritis caused by cystercoids destroying the intestinal villi in which they develop. Cause Hymenolepiasis is the most common cestode infection in humans. Infections are seen more often among children. It is most widespread in warm climates and around uns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diphyllobothrium
''Diphyllobothrium'' is a genus of tapeworms which can cause diphyllobothriasis in humans through consumption of raw or undercooked fish. The principal species causing diphyllobothriasis is ''D. latum'', known as the broad or fish tapeworm, or broad fish tapeworm. ''D. latum'' is a pseudophyllid cestode that infects fish and mammals. ''D. latum'' is native to Scandinavia, western Russia, and the Baltics, though it is now also present in North America, especially the Pacific Northwest. In Far East Russia, ''D. klebanovskii'', having Pacific salmon as its second intermediate host, was identified. Other members of the genus ''Diphyllobothrium'' include '' D. dendriticum'' (the salmon tapeworm), which has a much larger range (the whole northern hemisphere), ''D. pacificum'', ''D. cordatum'', ''D. ursi'', ''D. lanceolatum'', ''D. dalliae'', and ''D. yonagoensis'', all of which infect humans only infrequently. In Japan, the most common species in human infection is ''D. nihonkaiense ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as Armillaria mellea, honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes. There are six major parasitic Behavioral ecology#Evolutionarily stable strategy, strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), wikt:trophic, trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), Disease vector, vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism, and micropreda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitism
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as Armillaria mellea, honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes. There are six major parasitic Behavioral ecology#Evolutionarily stable strategy, strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), wikt:trophic, trophicallytransmitted parasitism (by being eaten), Disease vector, vector-transmitted paras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taenia Saginata
''Taenia saginata'' (synonym ''Taeniarhynchus saginatus''), commonly known as the beef tapeworm, is a zoonotic tapeworm belonging to the order Cyclophyllidea and genus ''Taenia''. It is an intestinal parasite in humans causing taeniasis (a type of helminthiasis) and cysticercosis in cattle. Cattle are the intermediate hosts, where larval development occurs, while humans are definitive hosts harbouring the adult worms. It is found globally and most prevalently where cattle are raised and beef is consumed. It is relatively common in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. Humans are generally infected as a result of eating raw or undercooked beef which contains the infective larvae, called cysticerci. As hermaphrodites, each body segment called proglottid has complete sets of both male and female reproductive systems. Thus, reproduction is by self-fertilisation. From humans, embryonated eggs, called oncospheres, are released with faeces and are transmitted t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parasitic Worm
Parasitic worms, also known as helminths, are large Parasitism#Basic concepts, macroparasites; adults can generally be seen with the naked eye. Many are intestinal worms that are soil-transmitted helminth, soil-transmitted and intestinal parasite infection, infect the gastrointestinal tract. Other parasitic worms such as schistosomes reside in blood vessels. Some parasitic worms, including leeches and monogeneans, are ectoparasites thus, they are not classified as helminths, which are Parasitism#Basic concepts, endoparasites. Parasitic worms live in and feed in living host (biology), hosts. They receive nourishment and protection while disrupting their hosts' ability to absorb nutrients. This can cause weakness and disease in the host, and poses a global health and economic problem. Parasitic worms cannot reproduce entirely within their host's body; they have a life cycle that includes some stages that need to take place outside of the host. Helminths are able to survive in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taenia Solium
''Taenia solium'', the pork tapeworm, belongs to the cyclophyllid cestode family Taeniidae. It is found throughout the world and is most common in countries where pork is eaten. It is a tapeworm that uses humans as its definitive host and pigs as the intermediate or secondary hosts. It is transmitted to pigs through human feces that contain the parasite eggs and contaminate their fodder. Pigs ingest the eggs, which develop into larvae, then into oncospheres, and ultimately into infective tapeworm cysts, called cysticercus. Humans acquire the cysts through consumption of uncooked or under-cooked pork and the cysts grow into an adult worms in the small intestine. There are two forms of human infection. One is "primary hosting", called taeniasis, and is due to eating under-cooked pork that contains the cysts and results in adult worms in the intestines. This form generally is without symptoms; the infected person does not know they have tapeworms. This form is easily treated wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetragonoporus
''Tetragonoporus'' is a genus of cestodes in the order Pseudophyllidea. It is a monotypic genus, and the only species is ''Tetragonoporus calyptocephalus'', previously known as ''Polygonoporus giganticus''. This tapeworm is a gut parasite of whales. Description The adult ''T. calyptocephalus'' is found in the gut of whales such as the sperm whale. It is normally present in the intestine, but can also occur in the bile duct. The tapeworm can be almost in length with as many as 45,000 proglottids (segments). The scolex (head) of the tapeworm is attached to the lining of the gut and the proglottids continuously develop from behind the scolex. As more segments are produced, the older ones become larger and more mature. In this species, the scolex is short and equipped with two suckers, and the proglottids develop in groups of three different sizes – small, medium and large – which are repeated throughout the length of the strobila (segmented body). The cuticle is thin and there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sucker (zoology)
A sucker in zoology refers to a specialised attachment organ of an animal. It acts as an adhesion device in parasitic worms, several flatworms, cephalopods, certain fishes, amphibians, and bats. It is a muscular structure for suction on a host or substrate. In parasitic annelids, flatworms and roundworms, suckers are the organs of attachment to the host tissues. In tapeworms and flukes, they are a parasitic adaptation for attachment on the internal tissues of the host, such as intestines and blood vessels. In roundworms and flatworms they serve as attachment between individuals particularly during mating. In annelids, a sucker can be both a functional mouth and a locomotory organ. The structure and number of suckers are often used as basic taxonomic diagnosis between different species, since they are unique in each species. In tapeworms there are two distinct classes of suckers, namely "bothridia" for true suckers, and " bothria" for false suckers. In digeneal flukes there ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
