Parasites/parasitism life cycle

A knowledge of parasite life cycles is crucial in the understanding of the ways infection is acquired and spread, the pathogenesis of disease, and the ways in which disease might be controlled. Some parasites which infect only humans, such as Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm), have a narrow host specificity, whereas others such as Trichinella spiralis infect numerous species. When other animals harbor the same parasite stage as humans, these animal species may serve as reservoir hosts. Humans infected with a parasite stage usually seen in other animal species are referred to as accidental hosts. 

Empirically it is known that effective drug concentrations are needed for at least 3 parasite-life cycles (=6 days) to obtain cure without recrudescence. By combining a drug with a fast action but short half life such as artemether and an agent with a slow action and long half life the treatment course can be short (2-3 days) which will benetit compliance, the patients condition will improve fast and resistance-development might be delayed. 

The nature of parasite life cycles is known to shape parasite evolution as they predispose the parasite to different genetic structures... 

Le Roch KG, Zhou Y, Blair PL et al (2003) Discovery of gene function by expression profiling of the malaria parasite life cycle. Science 301 1503-1508... 

Dcspommicr. D. D.. and Karapcloii. J. W. Parasitic Life Cycles. New York. Spnngcr-Verlag. I987. 

Zbynek Bozdech (1967- ), currently an assistant professor at the School of Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, continues to carry out research on the molecular aspects of the malaria parasite life cycle. Zbynek grew up in Czechoslovakia. In 1990, he received his masters degree in biochemistry from... 

Despommier DD, Karapelou JW Parasite Life Cycle New York, Springer-Verlag ... 

J. K. Frenkel, "Toxoplasmosis Parasite Life Cycle, Pathology and Immunology" in ref. 33, pp. 343-410. 

Fallowing is an essential control measure which interrupts the parasite life cycle and, for parasite prevention, is based on the short-lived nature of the transmission stages of many parasites. The best example is for... 

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