HELMINTHS Clonorchis sinensis (klon-OR-kis sin-EN-sis) is

Helminths - worms are metazoans, multicellular occasionally seen in immigrants in the United
animals composed of eukaryotic cells that lack States, but it cannot be transmitted because its
chloroplasts. Cells in a metazoan have the same intermediate hosts are not in the United States.
DNA but have specialized functions and form
tissues and organs. FLUKES
General anatomy of an adult fluke, shown in
The following generalizations distinguish cross section.
parasitic helminths from their free-living The oral and ventral suckers attach the fluke to
relatives: the host.
The mouth is located in the center of the oral
1. They may lack a digestive system. sucker. Flukes are hermaphroditic; each animal
2. Their nervous system is reduced. contains both testes and ovaries.
3. Their means of locomotion is ocassionally The Asian liver fluke Clonorchis sinensis.
reduced or completely lacking. Notice the incomplete digestive system. Heavy
4. The reproductive system is often complex. infestations may block bile ducts from the liver.

LIFE CYCLE CESTODES

The life cycle of parasitic helminths can be Cestodes, or tapeworms, are intestinal
extremely complex, involving a succession of parasites. The head, or scolex (plural:
intermediate hosts for completion of each scoleces),has suckers for attaching to the
larval (developmental) stage of the parasite and intestinal mucosa of the definitive host; some
a definitive host for the adult parasite Adult species also have small hooks for attachment.
helminths may be dioecious; male reproductive Tapeworms do notingest the tissues of their
organs are in one individual, and female hosts; in fact, they completely lack a digestive
reproductive organs are in another. system.The body consists of segments called
proglottids. Proglottids are continually produced
Adult helminths may also be monoecious, or by the neck region of the scolex, as long as the
hermaphroditic—one animal has both male and scolex is attached and alive.
female reproductive organs. The larvae migrate to muscle (meat), in which
they encyst as cysticerci. When the cysticerci
PLATYHELMINTHS are ingested by humans, all but the scolex is
Members of the phylum Platyhelminthes, the digested. The scolex anchors itself in the small
flatworms, are dorsoventrally flattened in intestine and begins producing proglottids
crosssection. Mostly hermaphroditic. The
classes of parasitic flatworms include the MEASLY BEEF
trematodes and cestodes. Humans are the only known definitive host of
INFECTION BY A PARASITIC the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. Adult
worms living in the human intestine produce
PLATYHELMINTH eggs, which are passed out in feces. When eggs
An increase in the trematode Ribeiroia in recent are eaten by pigs, the larval helminth encysts in
years has caused deformities in frogs. Frogs the pig's muscles; humans become infected
with multiple limbs have been found from when they eat undercooked pork.
Minnesota to California. Cercaria of the Humans are the intermediate hosts for
trematode infect tadpoles. The encysted Echinococcus granulosus. Dogs and coyotes are
metacercariae displace developing limb buds, the definitive hosts of Echinococcus granulosus.
causing abnormal limb development. The 1.Eggs are excreted with feces.
increase in the parasite may be due to fertilizer 2.Eggs are ingested by deer, sheep, or humans.
runoff that increases algae, which are food for Humans can also become infected by
the parasite’s intermediate host snail. contaminating their hands with dog feces or
saliva from a dog that has licked itself.
TREMATODES 3.The eggs hatch in the human's small intestine,
Trematodes, or flukes, often have flat, and the larvaemigrate to the liver or lungs.
leafshaped bodies with a ventral sucker and an 4.The larva develops into a hydatid cyst. The
oral sucker cyst contains"brood capsules," from which
The suckers hold the organism in place. Flukes thousands of scoleces might be produced.
obtain food by absorbing it through their 5.Humans are a dead end for the parasite, but
nonliving outer covering, called the cuticle. in the wild, thecysts might be in a deer that is
The Asian liver fluke eaten by a wolf.
6.The scoleces would be able to attach The eggs can be ingested by the host or by
themselves in thewolf's intestine and produce another person exposed through contaminated
proglottids. clothing or bedding.
LARVAE INFECTIVE FOR HUMANS
NEMATODES
Nematodes, the roundworms, are cylindrical Adult hookworms, Necator americanus
and tapered at each end. Roundworms have a and Ancylostoma duodenale, live in the small
complete digestive system, consisting of a intestine of humans; the eggs are excreted in
mouth, an intestine, and an anus. feces.
 Some species of nematodes are free- Trichinellosis is caused by a nematode that the
living in soil and water, and others are host acquires by eating encysted larvae in
parasites of plants and animals. undercooked meat of infected animals.
 Intestinal roundworms are the most The nematode, Dirofilaria immitis, is
common causes of chronic infectious spread from host to host through the bites of
diseases. Aedes mosquitoes.
The most common are Ascaris, hookworms, and
whipworms. The parasitic worm is called a
EGGS INFECTED FOR HUMANS heartworm because the adult stage is
often in the animal host's heart, where it can kill
Ascaris lumbricoides is a large nematode (30 cm its host through congestive heart failure.
in length) that infects over 1 billion people
worldwide. Four genera of roundworms called anisakines,
or wriggly worms, can be
It is dioecious with sexual dimorphism; that is, transmitted to humans from infected
the male and female worms look distinctly fish and squid. Anisakine larvae are in the fish's
different, the male being smaller with a curled intestinal mesenteries and migrate to the
tail. muscle when the fish
The adult Ascaris lives in the small intestines of dies. Freezing or thorough cooking will kill the
humans exclusively; it feeds primarily on larvae.
semidigested food. Eggs, excreted with feces,
can survive in the soil for long periods until
accidentally ingested by another host.
The eggs hatch in the small intestine of the
host. The larvae then burrow out of the
intestine and enter the blood. They are carried
to the lungs, where they grow. The larvae will
then be coughed up, swallowed, and returned
to the small intestine, where they mature into
adults.
Raccoon roundworm,
Baylisascaris procyonis, is an emerging
roundworm in North America.
The larvae migrate through a variety of tissues,
causing a condition called larva migrans.
Larva migrans can also be caused by Toxocara
canis
(from dogs) and T. cati (from cats).
One billion people worldwide are infected with
Trichuris trich-iura, or whipworm. The worms
are spread from person to person by fecal-oral
transmission or through fecescontaminated
food.
The pinworm Enterolius vermicularis
spends its entre life in a human host.

Adult pinworms are found in the large

intestine.