MT1

• The term Parasitology is a combination of the Latin words parasitus which means “to eat at the table of another” and logos which means “to study,” indicating the area of biology concerned with the phenomenon of dependence of one living organism on another.
• Medical Parasitology is concerned primarily with parasites that affect humans and their medical significance, as well as their importance in human communities.
• Tropical Medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with tropical diseases and other medical problems in tropical regions.
• Tropical Disease is an illness that is indigenous to or endemic in a tropical area but may also occur rarely in non-tropical areas.
• Epidemiology is the study of patterns, distribution and occurrence of disease.
• Incidence is the number of new cases of infection in a given period of time.
• Prevalence is the number of individuals estimated to be infected with a particular parasite.
• Cumulative Prevalence is the percentage of individuals in a population infected with at least one parasite.
• Intensity of Infection refers to the burden of infection related to the number of worms per infected person.
• Morbidity is the clinical consequences of infections or diseases that affect an individual’s well-being.
• Symbiosis is defined as the association of two different species for food and shelter, and is the term used to describe the relationships between two unlike organisms.
• Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits while the other is unaffected.
• Mutualism is a special type of symbiosis in which both species tend to benefit from each other.
• Parasitism is a relationship between two species where one organism benefits and the other is harmed.
• Incubation Period is the period of time between exposure and the evidence of symptoms, and Pre-patent period is the time between infection and the demonstration of infection.
• Autoinfection is when an infected individual becomes his own direct source of infection, while Superinfection happens when the already infected individual is further infected with the same species from other sources, which leads to a massive infection of the parasite.
• Modes of transmission can be Oral Ingestion, which is the most common source of infection is through contaminated food and water, or Skin Penetration, where some parasites can enter by exposure of the skin to soil, or of skin to water.
• Sources of infection can be Ingestion of contaminated food or drink, Lack of sanitary toilets, Arthropods such as mosquitoes, or Other infected individuals.
• Some parasites are Temporary Parasites, which live on the host only for a short period of time, while others are Permanent Parasites, which remain on or in the body of the host for its entire life.
• Parasites can be Endoparasites, which live inside the body of the host and cause infections, Ectoparasites, which live outside the body of the host and cause infestations, or Accidental Parasites, a parasite found in an organ which is not its usual habitat.
• Exposure is the process of inoculating an infective agent, while Infection is the establishment of the infective agent inside of the host.
• Some parasites are Obligate Parasites, which require a host to complete their development, while others are Facultative Parasites, which can exist in a free-living state but become parasitic when there is a need.
• Spurious parasites are free-living organisms that pass through the digestive tract without infecting the host.
• Definitive Host is the host that harbors a parasite that attains sexual maturity, while Intermediate Host is a host that harbors the asexual/larval stage of the parasite, and Paratenic Host is one in which the parasite does not develop further to later stages.
• Drug Resistance is a genetically transmitted loss of susceptibility to a drug in a parasite population that was previously sensitive to the appropriate therapeutic dose.
• IEC stands for Information - Education - Communication, is a health education strategy that aims to encourage people to adapt and maintain healthy life practices.
• Universal Treatment is population level deworming in which the community is treated irrespective of age, sex, infection status, or other social characteristics.
• Effectiveness is a measure of the effect of a drug against an infective agent in a particular host, living in a particular environment with specific ecological, immunological and epidemiological determinants.
• Deworming is the use of anti-helminthic drugs in an individual or a public health program.
• The perpetuation of a species of parasite depends upon its ability to ensure transmission from one host to another.
• Environmental Management involves the planning, organization, performance, and monitoring of activities for the modification and/or manipulation of environmental factors or their interaction with human beings with a view to prevent vector or intermediate host propagation and reducing contact between humans and the infective agent.
• Selective Treatment involves individual level deworming with selection for treatment based on a diagnosis of infection or an assessment of the intensity of infection or based on presumptive grounds.
• Egg Reduction Rate is the percentage of fall in egg counts after deworming.
• Coverage refers to the proportion of the target population reached by an intervention.
• Efficacy is the effect of a drug against an infective agent in ideal experimental conditions and isolated from any context.
• Congenital Transmission is when some parasites are able to cross the placental barrier and infect the fetus during pregnancy, while others are capable of passing through mother’s milk.
• Morbidity Control is the avoidance of illness caused by infections.
• Targeted Treatment is a group-level deworming where the group to be treated may be defined by age, sex, or other social characteristics irrespective of infection status.
• Environmental Sanitation involves interventions to reduce environmental health risks including the safe disposal and hygienic management of human and animal excreta, refuse, and waste water.
• Other modes of transmission include inhalation, sexual intercourse, and mouth-mouth contact.