LECTURE IN VETERINARY

ENTOMOLOGY AND
PROTOZOOLOGY

Precious Amor A. Beso, MSAS

Instructor
Overview of Parasitology

Parasitology – is the study of the life cycle,

morphology, pathogenecity, transmission,
epidemiology and control of parasites. It also
embraces biochemistry, physiology, cell
biology, immunology and pharmacology.
o Parasitology- is the study of parasites.
o Parasites – are those that “eat at anothers’
table”
- are organisms (bacteria, viruses, protozoa,
helminths, arthropods) plants or animals, which
live within some other organisms for their
survival.
And of course, the term parasite is used
occasionally to condemn our fellow humans
who seem to take more than they return to
society.
o Hosts – are plants or animals
or other organisms where the
parasites depend for their
existence.
Parasitologist

Parasitologist – is a quaint person who

seeks truth in strange places; a person
who sits on one stool, staring at one
another.
In a general introduction to
veterinary parasitology, the
students’ attention is drawn to
the inter-relationships between
the disciplines.
Three divisions of Vet. Parasitology:

1. Vet. Entomology – deals on the

different species of arthropods
2. Vet Protozoology – deals on the studies
of the unicellular organisms, called
protozoa.
3. Vet Helminthology- deals on the study
of worms.
Vet. Entomology – are devoted to ticks,
mites, insects and their dispersion, role
as vectors of disease, and control
Vet Protozoology – deals with directly
transmitted and vector-borne infections
and their control.
Vet Helminthology – here,
attention is paid to the life
cycles, pathogenesis, clinical
signs, epidemiology and
chemotherapy and the
integrated control of the
nematodes, trematodes and
cestodes.
Thus, the students are encouraged to
have this quotation:

I hear and I forget

I see and I remember
I do and I understand
This is because, seeing and doing certain
procedures facilitates the understanding
and learning of basic concepts.
In parasitology, ‘hands on’ training and
information retrieval should be
maximized rather than the mere
memorizing of facts.
IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES
IN
PARASITOLOGY
 Francisco Redi – Father of Parasitology
Anthony Van Leewenhook – (1632-1779)
perfected the microscope which enable man to
discover and describe various kinds of tiny
animals like protozoa in water, saliva, feces, etc.
Muller – discovered cerciariae in 1773
Peacock- discovered Trichinella spiralis
in 1828.
Dubini - discovered human hookworm in
1842.
Gros - discovered human emeba in 1849.
Abielgard – fed tapeworms from a fish to
birds and mature.
 Kucjenmeister in 1851 – fed cystecerci from
rabbit and mature into tapeworms in dogs.
Rudolphi – Classified all parasites known up to
his time
Malstem – Discovered Balantidium coli
Theobald Smith and Kibuorne – pioneer in the
demonstration of insects and its vector
Leukart in 1867 pioneered in
demonstrating that insects serve as
intermediate hosts and vector of parasites.
He proved that a nematode Protospirura
muris develop in the larvae of grain
beetles. Transmission of texas fever by
ticks of parasites
 Elnikov (the pupil of Leukart) in 1869 demonstrated then
D. caninum develop in dog lice.
 David Bruce in 1894 – showed that T. brucei the cause of
sleeping sickness “nagan” was transmitted by tsetse flies
 Manson – W. bancrofti develop and transmitted by
mosquitoes
 Smith and Kilbourne demonstrated the transmission of
Babesia by ticks.
 Ross and Grassi – malaria by mosquitoes
 Dr. Liberio Gomez – Grandfather of Parasitology in the
Philippines
 Dr. Candida Africa (MD) – Philippine Father of Parasitology
 Dr. Marcos Tubangui (DVM) – Philippine Father of
Parasitology
INTRODUCTIO
N
ANIMAL ASSOCIATIONS

Two general animal associations:

1. Homogenetic association
2. Heterogenetic association
Two general animal associations:

1. Homogenetic association – those between

individuals of the same genotype.
2. Heterogenetic association – those
between individuals of different
genotype.
Some Basic Definitions:
Symbiosis - Literally means ‘living
together’, a relationship wherein both
partners benefit. In a wider sense, it is define
as ‘any two organisms living in close
association, commonly one living in or on the
body of the other, are symbiotic, as
contrasted with ‘free living’ (As proposed by
A. de Bary, a German scholar).
Interactions of Symbionts:

Phoresis – exist when two symbionts are

merely ‘traveling together’, there is no
physiological or biochemical dependence on
the part of either participant.
 Eg. Bacteria on the legs of a fly or fungus
spores on the feet of a beetle.
Mutualism – describes a relation in which both
partners benefit from the association. Mutualistic
interactions are not restricted to physiological ones.

Eg. Cleansing symbiosis is a behavioral

phenomenon and occurs between certain
crustaceans and small fish. – the cleaners – and
larger marine fish.
Cleaners often establish stations that the large fish
visit periodically, and the cleaners remove
ectoparasites, injured tissues, fungi, and other
organisms.
Mutualism – there is reciprocal advantaged
derive from the union.
e.g. flagellate (Trichonympha campanula) and
wood termite (Termopsis novadensis).
Flagellate digest wood particle for the termite
while the latter gives protection to the former.
Commensalism – one partner benefits from
the association, but the host is neither helped
nor harmed. Only one symbiont is benefited
although the other suffers no harm. The term
commensalism means ‘eating at the same
table’ and many commensal relationships
involve feeding on food ‘wasted’ or
otherwise not consumed by the host.
eg. Is the pilot fish (Naucrates) and remoras
(Echeneidae). A remora is a slender fish
whose dorsal fin is modified into an adhesive
organ that it attaches to large fish, turtles,
and even submarines. The remoras get free
rides and scraps, but it does not harm the
host or rob it of food.
 Commensalism may be:

Facultative – in a sense that the commensal

may not be required to participate in an
association to survive.
Obligate – in a sense that they are not found
except on other organisms, especially
crustaceans.
Parasitism – is a relationship in which one of the
participants, the parasite, either harms its host or in
some sense lives at the expense of the host.
Parasites may cause mechanical injury, such as :
by boring a hole into the host or digging into its
skin or other tissues
by stimulating a damaging inflammatory or
immune response,
or simply by robbing the host of nutrition.
 Other terms in parasitology
Epidemiology –
division of science
concerned with host
defining and
explaining the agent
environm
ent
interrelationship of the
host, agent, and
environment in
causing disease.
Zoonoses – transmission of the disease
between man and animals.
Vector – an arthropod or other invertebrate
which transmits the parasite from one
vertebrate host to another.
 Infection vs Infestation

Parasitism by an internal parasite.

Parasitism by an external parasite.
Life cycle – refers to the development of a
parasite through its various stages.

egg larva

adult
Quantitative host range or qualitative
host spectrum – is the amount of parasitism
in the various hosts.

Parasite impasse – a condition in which the

parasites survive in the host without
multiplication
Ecology – is the study of the
relationship between
organisms and their
environment.
Organ specificity – associated with host
specificity is the organ where the parasites
are present.
Any animal that harbors an infection that
can be transmitted to humans is called a
reservoir host, even if the animal is a normal
host of the parasite.
eg. Rats and carnivores with Trichinella
spiralis
Dogs with Leishmania spp
Kinds of parasites
Obligate parasites – they can not complete
their life cycle without spending at least part
of the time in a parasitic relationship. Many
obligate parasites have free -living stages
outside any host, including some period of
time in the external environment within a
protective eggshell or cyst.
Facultative parasites –are not normally
parasitic but can become so when they are
accidentally eaten or enter a wound or other
body orifice.
 these are sometimes free-living, sometimes
parasitic.
If a parasite lives on the surface of
its host – ectoparasite, if internal –
endoparasite
 Accidental or incidental parasite –is when a
parasite enters or attaches to a body of a species
of host different from its normal one. Example, it
is common for nematodes, normally parasitic in
insects, to live for a short time in the intestine of
birds or for a rodent flea to bite a dog or human.
Accidental parasites usually do not survive in the
wrong host, but in some cases it can be extremely
pathogenic (see Balyliascaris, Toxocara)
 Permanent vs Temporary parasite

Permanent parasites – are when some

parasites live their entire adult lives within
or on their host.
Temporary parasite – parasites that are
parasitic only during certain stage of life.
Temporary or intermittent parasites - only
feed on the host and then leave, like mosquitoes
or bedbugs. They are often called as
micropredators because they usually ‘prey’ on
several different host (or the same host at several
discrete times).

Parasitoids - are insects typically flies or wasps

(order Diptera and Hymenoptera), whose
immature stages feed on their hosts’ bodies,
usually other insects, but finally kill the hosts.
 Periodic parasite – parasitic during feeding
time.
Aberrant parasite – parasites that follow a
certain route of migration, reach an organ,
become encapsulated and die.
Homogenous parasite – parasite with one
type of host.
Heteroxenous parasite – parasited with 2 or
more types of host
 Stenoxynous parasite – parasites having a
narrow range of host.

Euryxenous parasite – parasite having a

broad range of host.
Macroparasites – large parasites that do not
multiply (in the life-cycle stage of interest) in
or on the host.
Microparasites – are small parasites that
multiply within the host. This includes
bacteria, rickettsia and protozoan infections
such as those caused by malarial parasites,
trypanosomes and amebas.
Kinds of hosts

 Definitive host – is one in which the

parasite reaches sexual maturity. Are often
but not necessarily vertebrates.
A host harboring the asexual, adult stage
of the parasite
Intermediate host – is one that is
required for parasitic development, but
one in which the parasite does not reach
sexual maturity.
Host harboring the asexual or larval
stage of the parasite.
Paratenic or transport host – is one in
which the parasite does not undergo
any development but in which it
remains alive and infective to another
host. It may bridge a gap between the
intermediate and definitive host.
 Normal or usual host – host in which any particular
species of parasite is usually a parasite.
Abnormal or unusual host – or foreign host
in which a parasite found did not usually found.
Reservoir host – is a host in which the parasite
occurs.
Any animal that harbors an infection that can be
transmitted to humans, even if the animal is a
normal host of the parasite.
 Harmful effects of parasites on the host
1. Suck blood which result in anemia, ill-thrift, and
death; suck lymph (midges) and suck exudates
(lungworms)
2. Feed on solid tissues
3. Compete with host for food
4. Obstruct the intestine (ascarids), bile ducts
(fringed tapeworms, ascaris), blood vessels
(heartworms), lymph channels (filariids), and
bronchi ( lungworms)
5. Pressure atrophy – hydatid cyst
6. Destroy host cell by growing in them
(coccidia, malaria)
7. Produce various toxins – anticoagulants
8. Cause inflammation, etc
9. Cause allergic reactions
10. Stimulate the development of cancer (S.
lupi)
11. Damage host tissues – liver fluke
Life cycle of parasites:
1. Multiple without the host’s body
(Plasmodium) and transmitted to new host
by vectors (mosquitoes)
2. One-host parasite – spend one part of life
cycle away from the host (eg. Ticks and
nematodes)
3. Two-host parasite – spend part of their life
in definitive or final host and part in another
(intermediate host) eg. Flukes (cattle and
snail)
 Diagnosis of parasitism
1. External parasites – by dirxct observation and
examination (ticks and lice)
- by skin scraping for mites
2. Blood parasites – by stained smears or by
inoculation of whole blood into splenectomized
calves
3. Helminths – by autopsy for total worm counts
and by fecal egg count and culture for
differential larval count.
Types of parasites and hosts:
1. Optional occasional parasites – those that
briefly visit their host to obtain nourishment
but not dependent upon them for either
nourishment or shelter. Eg mosquitoes
2. Obligate occasional parasites – those that
do not permanently live upon their host but
are dependent upon them for nourishment
and to some extent for shelter. Eg. fleas and
ticks
3.Transitory parasites – are limited to
definitive stage or syages in their life-cycle,
during which time, parasitism is obligate or
continuous. Eg. botflies, warble flies (larvae
cause myiasis which is obligate)
4.Permanent parasite – those that extend from
the time of hatching of the eggs to the time the
eggs are produced in the adult. Eg. lice and
mites
5. Fixed parasites – those that can not pass
spontaneously from one host to the other. Eg
helminths
6. Erratic parasites – those that occur in organ far
remote from their normal location. Eg. Ascaris
suis in the fallopian tube and Stephanurus
dentatus in the lungs
7. Monoxenous parasites – those that require only
one host to complete their life-cycle.
8. Heteroxenous parasites – those that require
two or more hosts to complete their life-
cycle.
If 2 or more hosts are required, that host
wherein sexual maturity is reach is known
as the primary host, definitive or final host;
the other host in which the parasite undergo
juvenile or larval
development/multiplication is the secondary
or intermediate host.
Example:
1. Plasmodium
Mosquito – final host
Man – intermediate host
2. Paragonimus westermanii
Man – the final host
Snails – (first) – intermediate host
Crabs – (second) – intermediate host
3. Fasciola gigantica
Carabao, cattle, goat – final host
Snails – intermediate host
9. Pseudoparasites - objects often mistaken
for the parasite eggs and larvae because it
resembles them. Example pollen grain,
fungal spores, yeast, cells, plant spines, etc
10. Ectoparasites – parasites occurring on the
surface of the body. Examples: ticks, lice,
mites. Condition prooduced is referred to
as infestations.
11. Endoparasites – parasites found in the alimentary
canal, blood, muscle and other tissues of the host
and the condition is termed infection. Example:
roundworms, tapeworms, plasmodia and coccidia,
etc.

12. Facultative parasites – parasites that could exist

as free living and also as parasites. Example: larvae
of blowflies and fleshflies, larvae in decaying
ortanic matter or tissues and wounds of animals
(myiasis)
13. Reservoir hosts – are final hosts that
harbor the infection but show no untoward
signs of infection. They serve as carriers.
Organisms multiply but not enough to
cause disease.
14. Transport or paratenic host – host in which
parasites are accidentally lodged and
transmission is through ingestion.
Example: Toxocara canis eggs if ingested
by rats or birds, parasites live and encyst
(inhibited) in the bird and infection is by
ingestion of rats and birds.
Transmission of Parasite Requires:

1. A source or reservoir which may be

human or animal
2. A route of infection.
3. eg. Ingestion, penetration or an insect
vector
Transmission of Diseases by Arthropods
Arthropods transmit various diseases either
mechanically or biologically.
1. Mechanical transmission – when no change in
form or development occur in the arthropods
body.
Example: T. evansi, amoeba, helminth ova.
2. Biological or cyclical transmission – there is
change in the form or development of the
parasite or organism in the body of the
arthropod.
There are 3 types of biological/cyclic transmission

1. Cyclo-propagative transmission – the organism

undergo cyclical changes and multiplication in the
body of the arthropod. Example: plasmodia in
mosquito
2. Cyclo-developmental transmission – the organism
undergo cyclic development changing form and size
but no multiplication in the body of the arthropod.
Example: Dirofilaria immitis in the mosquito.
3. Propagative transmission – the organism undergo
“multiplication” in the arthropod but no cyclical
development or change in form or size. Example:
Pasteurella pestis in the gut of the rat flea.
4. Transovarian transmission or hereditary
transmission – this happens in the case of
Babesia species in ticks. Transmission of
infection is through the next generation of
ticks. After the parasite (Babesia) in
ingested by the mature ticks, the parasite
invades the developing tick egg and when the
young tick emerges, it carries the infective
organism. Mother tick dies after laying eggs.
Factors that influence the degree of harm done
by various parasites are as follows:
1. Number of parasites present
2. Location of the parasites
3. Nature of their foci
4. Movements of parasites
5. Age of the host
6. Virulence of parasites.
7. Complex life cycle. Need for intermediate
host to increase chance of perpetuating
species. Multiplication in intermediate host.
8. Greatly altered metabolism (some parasites
can live anaerobically). Internal parasites
that live anaerobically obtain energy by
nutrients, vitamins from the host body.
 Pathogenecity and pathogenic effects

Parasites harm their host in any of the following ways:

1. By absorbing part of the digested nutrients, vitamins,
minerals.
2. By sucking blood or lymph.
3. By feeding on the tissues of the host.
4. By causing mechanical obstruction or pressure.
5. By causing growth or nodules, tumors and perforating
blood vessels.
6. By causing wounds.
7. By destruction of tissues.
8. By irritation and annoyance – interfere with feeding
resulting in loss of weight/meat and milk.
9. By secretion of toxins and other harmful substances:
a. Anti-digestive enzymes
b. Digestive enzymes harmful to host tissues
c. Anticoagulatory and hemolytic enzymes
d. Other secretions and excretions and body fluids
10. Transmitter of the causal agents of some infectious diseases
11. By reducing the resistance of the host to the other infection.
12. By causing allergy (local or general)
13. Serving as IH, and transmitter of certain parasites.
14. 14. Abortion, infertility, lowered productive performance.
Parasites cause disease in human by:
1. Mechanical effects – eg. Hydatid cyst
2. Invasion and destruction in host cells – malaria
3. Allergic or inflammatory immune reaction by the
host to the parasite as in toxocariasis and
trypanosomiasis
4. Competition of specific nutrients as in
Diphyllobothrium latum for vitamin B12.
5. Or there may be no obvious disease, as in Taenia
saginata in humans.
Diagnosis on parasitic diseases depends on:

 1.A history of exposure and the clinical pattern of

illness in the patient.
 2.Identification of the parasite itself in excreta
(stool, urine), blood or specific tissues.
 3.Indirect evidence of the parasite by testing the
patient’s blood for antibodies.
 4.Detection of parasite antigens in clinical
specimens
 5. Detection of parasite DNA or RNA in clinical
specimens
Types of feeding