ZOO 824

(TRANSMISSION AND
DISEASES OF PROTOZOAN
PARASITES)
Parisitology
Parasitism:
Two organisms living
together

One benefits from the

relationship at the
expense of the other
Parasitolgy

Three groups of parasites

 Protozoan

 Metazoan

 Exoparasites

All the parasites are

eukaryotes.
Protozoan (single celled)

All protozoans have 2

important stages of life:

 Trophozoite – active, free

swimming state of protozoan
 Cyst – dormant phase. In
most cases this is the
infective stage.
Protozoan
Protozoan (single celled)

Classified by the way they

move.

Amoeba (sarcodina)

Flagellates (mastigophora)

Ciliates (ciliophora)

Sporozoans (apicomyplexa)
 Examples of important intestinal protozoa
Transmitted by the faecal-oral route and cause diarrhoea

Giardia lamblia: world-wide distribution, lives in the small

intestine and results in malabsorption

Entamoeba histolytica: may invade the colon and cause

bloody diarrhoea – amoebic dysentery. Also causes amoebic
liver abscess.

Cryptosporidium parvum: more prevalent in the

immunocompromised

Cyclospora cyatenensis : parasitizes the small intestinal

mucosa and may cause diarrhoea for several weeks

Balantidium coli: a large motile ciliated parasite that lives in

the colon of pigs, humans and rodents and can lead to
colonic ulceration
7
Examples of important systemic protozoa
Detected in the blood
 Plasmodium: the cause of malaria. There are 4 species
that infect man: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P.
malariae

 Toxoplasma gondi: transmitted by the ingestion of

oocysts from cat faeces. Infection can lead to ocular
problems and is also a cause of neonatal toxoplasmosis
Typical lesion
 Leishmania: transmitted by sand flies, can lead to of cutaneous
leishmaniasis
visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis

 Trypanosoma: haemoflagellates cause

◦ In Africa - sleeping sickness (transmitted by the Tsetse fly)

◦ In South America - Chagas disease (transmitted by the

Reduviid bug)

8
Sarcodina (Protozoan)
Sarcodina the largest phylum
(11,500 living species) of
protozoans.

It comprises the amebas and

related organisms; which are all
solitary cells that move and
capture food by means of
pseudopods, temporary extensions
of the cell.

Most sarcodines are free living;

others are parasitic. One of these
parasites is the causative organism
of amebic dysentery.
Sarcodina (Protozoan)

Most sarcodines are free

living; others are parasitic.
They are found in aquatic
and
terrestrial habitats.

Entamoeba histolytica is the

causative agent of
dysentery.
Entamoeba histolytica
Life Cycle
Entamoeba histolytica Pathogenesis
Sarcodina (Protozoan)
Acanthamoeba is the etiology
of amoebic keratitis and
encephalitis.

Encephalitis is caused by
Acanthamoeba entering cuts or
through the nares and
spreading to the central
nervous system.
Flagellates (Protozoan)
Most of the approximately
1,500 species of Mastigophora
are propelled by one or more
flagella, and members of the
group are referred to as
flagellates.
 Giardia - Flagellates
(Protozoan)
Giardiasis, infection of the small
intestine
by a protozoan, Giardia lamblia.

Giardia is spread via the fecal-oral

route, most commonly by eating food
contaminated by the unwashed
hands of an infected person or by
drinking groundwater polluted by the
feces of infected animals such as dogs
and beavers (hence the nickname
"beaver fever" ).

It attaches itself to the walls of the

small intestine and there multiplies
quickly.
ag picture to placeholder or click icon to add
Giardia lamblia
Life Cycle
Giardia lamblia cyst and trophozoite
[Link] 24
Trichomonas - Flagellates
(Protozoan)
Trichomoniasis is caused by a
Trichomonas vaginalis and is
passed almost 100% of the time
through sexual contact.

Trichomoniasis is primarily an
infection of women's vaginal and
urinary tracts.

A woman is most susceptible to

infection just after having completed
her menstrual period.

Men also may carry the organism

unknowingly, since infection in men
may cause mild or no symptoms.
Trichomonas
 Trichomonas
Protozoan
•

• Actively motile ,

slightly larger than a

leucocyte
• Anaerobic

TYPES
1. Tr. Buccalis : normal
inhabitant of mouth
2. Tr. Hominis : normal
inhabitant of anal
canal and rectum
3. Tr. Vaginalis : found in
the vagina

[Link] 28
[Link] 29
Symptoms
 20 % cases are asymptomatic
 Symptoms develop after 4 to 28

days after :
a. sexual contact with infected
person
b. contact with infected material
like towel or toilet etc.
1. 70 % of cases show typical profuse frothy
discharge
2. Vaginal wall tender

3. Pruritis & inflammation of vulva

4. Multiple punctate strawberry spots on vaginal

vault and portio vaginalis of cervix
( strawberry vagina ) [Link] 30
Typical discharge of
Trichomoniasis

[Link] 31
Diagnosis

 Examination of a wet film

preparation under the microscope
at 35 degree Celsius
 On a smear stained for cytology
 PCR & antigen testing

[Link] 32
Trypanosoma - Flagellates
(Protozoan)
Human African Trypanosomiasis,
also known as sleeping sickness,
is a vector-borne parasitic
disease.

The parasites concerned are protozoa

belonging to the Trypanosoma Genus.

They are transmitted to humans by

tsetse fly (Glossina Genus) bites
which have acquired their infection
from human beings or from animals
harbouring the human pathogenic
parasites.
Trypanosoma Flagellates
(Protozoan)
Chagas diseases occurs in 15 Central
and South American countries.

The symptoms of Chagas disease vary

over the course of an infection. In the
early, acute stage, symptoms are mild
and usually produce no more than
local swelling at the site of infection.

As the disease progresses, over the

course of many years, serious chronic
symptoms can appear, such as heart
disease and malformation of the
intestines. If untreated, the chronic
disease is often fatal.
Trypanosoma brucei ssp. in a thin blood T. cruzi trypomastigote in a thin blood smear
smear stained with Giemsa. stained with Giemsa.

41
LEISHMANIA
Leishmania sp. amastigotes in a Giemsa-stained tissue scraping

43
 cutaneous lesion

Lesion shows a
volcanic
appearance

skin ulcers Healed cutaneous

 Diffused cutaneous

Cutaneous

Mucocutaneous (espundia)

Mucocutaneous
Post kala + visceral Post kala

Visceral leishmaniasis (with marked

splenomegaly)
 Protozoan - Ciliates
The ciliates are a group of protists
characterized by the presence of
hair-like organelles called cilia.

Cilia are identical in structure to

Flagella but typically shorter and
present in much larger numbers
with a different undulating pattern
than flagella.
 Balantidium coli
Infection occurs when a host
ingests a cyst, which usually
happens during the consumption
of contaminated water or food.

Once the cyst is ingested, it passes

through the host’s digestive

system.
ag picture to placeholder or click icon to add
Balantidium Coli
Balantidium
coli in human
intestine
 Protozoan Apicomplexa (Sporozoan)
The Apicomplexa are a large group of
protists, most of which possess a
unique organelle called apicoplast and
an apical complex structure involved
in
penetrating a host's cell.

They are unicellular, spore-forming,

and exclusively parasites of animals.

They are non-motile protozoans and

rely on the fluid structures of the body
for movement.
Sporozoan Major Pathogens
 Plasomdium - Malaria
Malaria is a vector-borne infectious
disease caused by a eukaryotic protist
of the genus Plasmodium.

It is widespread in tropical and

subtropical regions, including parts of
the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Each year, there are approximately

350–500 million cases of malaria,
killing between one and three million
people, the majority of whom are
young
children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
57
 Plasomdium - Malaria Life Cycle
.
TOXOPLASMOSIS
 Toxoplasma gondii
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease
caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma
gondii. The parasite infects most
genera of warm-blooded animals,
including humans, but the primary
host
is the felid (cat) family.

Animals are infected by eating

infected
meat, by ingestion of faces of a cat
that has itself recently been infected,
or
by transmission from mother to fetus.

Cats have been shown as a major

reservoir of this infection.
 Cryptosporidium parvum
Cryptosporidiosis, also known as
crypto, is a parasitic disease caused
by
Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite
in the phylum Apicomplexa.

It affects the intestines of mammals

and is typically an acute short-term
infection.

It is spread through the fecal-oral

route, often through contaminated
water; the main symptom is self-
limiting diarrhea in people with intact
immune systems.
Cryptosporidium parvum
In immunocompromised individuals,
such as AIDS patients, the symptoms
are particularly severe and often fatal.
Cryptosporidium is the organism most
commonly isolated in HIV positive
patients presenting with diarrhea.

Treatment is symptomatic, with fluid

rehydration, electrolyte correction and
management of any pain. Despite not
being identified until 1976, it is one of
the most common waterborne diseases
and is found worldwide.

The parasite is transmitted by

environmentally hardy microbial cysts
(oocysts) that, once ingested, exist in the
small intestine and result in an infection of
intestinal epithelial tissue.
Cryptosporidium Life Cycle
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Cryptosporidium cysts in
stained stool smear
 C. parvum oocyst C. cayetanensis oocyst

I. belli oocyst I. belli sporocyst