Malaria is an infection of red blood cells and is caused by parasites that are transferred to humans by mosquitoes. If left untreated, it can be fatal. In 2020 alone, nearly half the globe's population was at risk of being ...
Sep 20, 2022
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A vaccine candidate called R21 has been shown to be up to 80% effective at preventing malaria in young children, according to the latest trial results.
Sep 15, 2022
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Researchers from the University of Georgia have discovered a potential treatment for Chagas disease, marking the first medication with promise to successfully and safely target the parasitic infection in more than 50 years.
Sep 08, 2022
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A newly funded Tropical Medicine Research Center at The Ohio State University will study factors that drive transmission and spread of visceral leishmaniasis, a serious parasitic disease in Eastern Africa that is fatal without ...
Sep 07, 2022
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The drug artemisinin is the world's most important first-line drug for the treatment of malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes that was responsible for 627,000 deaths globally in 2020. To prevent the malaria parasite (Plasmodium ...
Aug 29, 2022
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Findings from a preliminary human study of an experimental, genetically attenuated malaria parasite immunization show this vaccine warrants further exploration.
Aug 24, 2022
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One thing you might want even less than a "kiss" from a kissing bug is its feces. Scientifically referred to as triatomine bugs, these blood-sucking insects can carry in their feces and pass on to humans the parasite Trypanosoma ...
Aug 16, 2022
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A study of how injured mouse cells trigger immune responses suggests novel strategies for preventing and treating everything from parasites to allergies in humans.
Aug 04, 2022
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When Brazilian immunologist Helder Nakaya visited Evandro Chagas Institute in Belém (the capital of Pará state, Brazil) in 2017, there was a commotion because one of its best microscopists was retiring and much of the knowledge ...
Jul 28, 2022
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Targeting a parasite's DNA could be a more effective way to combat malaria, new research from the University of Sheffield has revealed.
Jul 25, 2022
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Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between two different organisms where one organism, the parasite, takes favor from the host, sometimes for a prolonged time. In general, parasites are much smaller than their hosts, show a high degree of specialization for their mode of life, and reproduce more quickly and in greater numbers than their hosts. Classic examples of parasitism include interactions between vertebrate hosts and diverse animals such as tapeworms, flukes, the Plasmodium species, and scabs. Parasitism is differentiated from parasitoidism, a relationship in which the host is always killed by the parasite such as moths, butterflies, ants, flies and others.
The harm and benefit in parasitic interactions concern the biological fitness of the organisms involved. Parasites reduce host fitness in many ways, ranging from general or specialized pathology (such as castration), impairment of secondary sex characteristics, to the modification of host behaviour. Parasites increase their fitness by exploiting hosts for food, habitat and dispersal.
Although the concept of parasitism applies unambiguously to many cases in nature, it is best considered part of a continuum of types of interactions between species, rather than an exclusive category. Particular interactions between species may satisfy some but not all parts of the definition. In many cases, it is difficult to demonstrate that the host is harmed. In others, there may be no apparent specialization on the part of the parasite, or the interaction between the organisms may be short-lived. In medicine, only eukaryotic organisms are considered parasites, with the exclusion of bacteria and viruses. Some branches of biology, however, regard members of these groups as parasitic.[citation needed]
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