BLOOD PARASITE, CILIATE

• Hepatozoon


  Apicomplexan protozoa under the Family Hepatozoidae, commonly referred to as hemogregarines
• Hepatozoon life cycle


  • Sexual development and sporogony occurs in invertebrates, while merogony and gametogony occurs in vertebrates
• Hepatozoon canis and H. americanum

  Both affect dogs

  
• Tick vector of H. canis

  Rhipicephalus sanguineus
• Tick vector of H. americanum

  Amblyomma maculatum
• H. canis infection


  • Primarily affects hemolymphoid organs
• H. americanum infection


  • Affects skeletal and cardiac muscles
• Encephalitozoon cuniculi


  A microspora (Phylum Microsporidia), which are obligate intracellular parasites with unicellular spores
• Pneumocystis carinii


  Now considered a fungus, it is an opportunistic pathogen affecting humans and non-human primates, especially immunocompromised individuals
• Blastocystis spp.


  Localize in the intestinal tract of humans and various animals
• Ciliates


  • Members are generally harmless free-living commensals, inhabiting water of all kinds
  • All members possess cilia for locomotion, which may be simple or compound
  • Most have two sets of nuclei: a micronucleus containing a normal set of chromosomes concerned with reproductive process, and a macronucleus responsible for cytoplasmic activities
  • Reproduction is by binary fission or conjugation, wherein there is exchange of micronuclear materials between two individuals. True sexual reproduction involving gametes is absent
• Balantidium coli


  The most commonly known ciliate that can cause disease in pigs, cattle, primates, rodents, and other animals, occurring in the lumen of large intestine
• Balantidium coli


  • Cilia are arranged in longitudinal rows all over the body
  • Has two forms: trophozoite and cyst form
• Pigs appear to be the primary host of Balantidium coli, wherein it is regarded as a commensal
• Balantidium coli is considered to be the largest protozoan and the only ciliate parasitic to humans