Important Parasites

Organism	Reservoir	Transmission	Pathology
Entameoba Histolytica	Definitive Host: Human Contaminated environment Intermediate Host: Nil	Orofaecal	Intestinal Amoebiasis (Diarrhea, Dysentery), Metastatic Amoebiasis, Cerebral Amoebiasis, Pulmonary Amoebiasis, Splenic Amoebiasis
Plasmodium	Definitive Host: Female Anopheles Intermediate Host: Human	Mosquito bite, Across placenta, Blood transfusion, I/V drugs	Malaria
Giardia Lamblia	Duodenum of Human	Orofaecal	Giardiasis => Diarrhea + Anemia
Trichomonas Vaginalis	Genital tract of humans, especially Female	Sexual Contact	Trichomoniasis => Urethral + Vaginal Discharge, Itching, Dysuria
Leishmania Donovani	Definitive Host: Human Reticuloendothelial  system Intermediate Host: Female Sandfly	Female Sandfly bite	Leshmaniasis =>Cutaneneous, Visceral (Kala – azar)
Diphyllobothrium Latum	Definitive Host: Humans, Bears, Dogs, Cats Intermediate Host: Species of fishes	Improper cooked infected fish	Vit B12 Malabsorption Megaloblastic Anemia
Taenia Saginata (Beef Tapeworm)	Definitive Host: Human Intermediate Host: Muscles of Cattles	Orofaecal Infected uncooked meat	IBS type of symptoms Anemia
Echinococcus Granulosus (Hydatid worm)	Definitive Host: Dog, Wolf, Fox, Jackal Intermediate Host: Humans, Cattles, Horses	Orofaecal Route	Hydatid disease: Hydatid cysts in Liver , Lungs, Brain

Posted in: Pathology; Parasitology