W5: Parasite lecture

A collection of vocabulary flashcards covering the epidemiology, classification, treatment, and beneficial applications of zoonotic parasites, fungi, and helminths.

Zoonotic overflow

The process where pathogens are transmitted from a reservoir host, such as wild animals, through amplification and transmission to a symptomatic human host.

Obligate parasites

Parasites that must lead a parasitic life and cannot complete their life cycle without a host.

Parasitic Disease Prevalence (Outbreaks)

Parasites account for $15\%$ of diseases, $4\%$ of outbreaks, and $20\%$ of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs).

Benznidazole

A drug used to treat Trypanosoma by generating radical species which damage DNA or cellular machinery.

Miconazole

An antifungal drug that inhibits the cytochrome P450 enzyme; it is noted that animals have an equivalent version known as P451.

Pyrimethamine

A treatment for Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, and Cystoisospora that works by inhibiting dihydrofolate reductase.

Neglected Parasitic Zoonoses

Diseases mostly in tropical countries that cause significant morbidity among rural people but are under-reported and neglected by funding agencies.

African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis)

A disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei, carried by animal reservoirs like antelopes and cattle, causing high fever, nausea, and erythematous plaques.

Chagas disease

Caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by the triatomin vector ("kissing bug"), it can lead to severe myocarditis and heart disease.

Leishmaniasis

A disease caused by Leishmania infantum, transmitted by sandflies, with symptoms ranging from skin lesions to wasting hepatosplenomegaly.

Zoonotic cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL)

A form of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major that results in bumps or open sores; mucocutaneous forms are a complication of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL)

A potentially fatal form of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum characterized by weight loss, anaemia, and enlarged spleen and liver.

Toxoplasma gondii

An apicomplexan pathogen that infects up to half the world population; it can cause congenital toxoplasmosis and is known to alter rodent behavior to favor cat predation.

Plasmodium knowlesi

The specific species of malaria that is classified as a zoonotic disease, transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito.

Histoplasmosis (Cave disease)

A lung infection caused by inhaling Histoplasma capsulatum fungal spores found in bat or bird droppings.

Helminths

A polyphyletic group of multicellular parasitic animals including tapeworms, flukes, and hookworms/roundworms (nematodes).

Schistosomiasis

A waterborne disease caused by Schistosoma sp. (blood flukes) that uses freshwater snails as vectors.

Fasciolosis

An infection caused by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica, typically acquired through the consumption of watercress or undercooked meat.

Cestoda

The class of tapeworms which are all parasitic, hermaphroditic, and lack a gut, attaching to hosts using a scolex or bothria.

Hydatidosis (Echinococcosis)

A tapeworm infection (Echinococcus granulosus) transmitted from dogs to humans, with intermediate hosts like cattle and swine, primarily affecting the liver.

Toxocariasis

An infection caused by Toxocara canis or Toxocara cati roundworm larvae from canid or cat feces; $5\%$ of cases may develop permanent sight loss.

One Health initiatives

WHO pilot programmes that integrate targeted chemotherapy in high prevalence areas with community education and environmental monitoring.

Giardia lamblia

A metamonad and the second most common parasitic disease in humans, often associated with water contaminated by infected animals and traveler's diarrhea.

Helminthic therapy

The experimental clinical infection with flatworms (Trematodes) to treat auto-immune diseases and immune disorders like Crohn's disease and asthma.