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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. [3] Helminths are able to survive in their mammalian hosts for many years due to their ability to manipulate the host's immune response by secreting immunomodulatory products. [4]
The helminth Spinochordodes parasitising a bush-cricket (Meconema sp.) A plate from Félix Dujardin's 1845 Histoire naturelle des helminthes ou vers intestinaux. Helminthology is the study of parasitic worms (helminths). The field studies the taxonomy of helminths and their effects on their hosts.
This is the first recognized example of an animal species where both females and males can reproduce clonally resulting in a complete separation of male and female gene pools. As a consequence, the males only have fathers and the queens only mothers, while the sterile workers are the only ones with both parents of both sexes. [ 15 ]
Parasites of animals are highly specialised, each parasite species living on one given animal species, and reproduce at a faster rate than their hosts. Classic examples include interactions between vertebrate hosts and tapeworms, flukes, and those between the malaria-causing Plasmodium species, and fleas.
Parasitic worms influence what kinds of T helper cells are activated. In the past, helminths were thought to simply suppress T-helper Type 1 (Th1) cells while inducing T-helper Type 2 (Th2) cells. [9] Rook points out that this hypothesis would only explain the regulatory effects of parasitic worms on autoimmune diseases caused by Th1 cells. [10]
Helminthiasis, also known as worm infection, is any macroparasitic disease of humans and other animals in which a part of the body is infected with parasitic worms, known as helminths. There are numerous species of these parasites , which are broadly classified into tapeworms , flukes , and roundworms .
The pinworm (species Enterobius vermicularis), also known as threadworm (in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) or seatworm, is a parasitic worm.It is a nematode (roundworm) and a common intestinal parasite or helminth, especially in humans. [7]
For example, Diphyllobothrium has at least two intermediate hosts, a crustacean and then one or more freshwater fish; its definitive host is a mammal. Some cestodes are host-specific, while others are parasites of a wide variety of hosts. Some six thousand species have been described; probably all vertebrates can host at least one species.