Parasites

• General problems encountered by gut parasites

  Any parasite living in the human gut has to be extremely specialised to withstand:

  • Lack of or very little oxygen - anaerobic conditions
  • Extreme acidic or alkaline conditions
  • Food mixed with digestive juices including digestive enzymes
  • Food being churned by the digestive system and moved along by peristaltic waves (muscular motion)
  • Being washed away by the food and juices
  • The immune system of the host
  • Death of the host results in death of the parasite, so it must not kill its host
  • Has to avoid competition with others
• Pork Tapeworm (Taenia solium) is an excellent example of a highly evolved parasite
• Parasite - an organism which lives in/on the host organism and obtains its energy from another living organism/host without killing the host
• Ectoparasite - parasite that lives on the outside of a host
• Endoparasite - lives inside a host organism