Eukaryotic Microbes

Parasites
Protozoa, Helminths, Arthropods
Eukaryotic Microbes

Table 12.1
 Protozoa
• Life Stages –
– Trophozoite -vegetative; feeding, mostly motile
– Cyst – dormant; protective thick wall
• Most are free living in water and soil
• Classified by motility & life cycle
• Subdivided by location in human host (GI, blood, GU)

1. Kelas Sarcodina Amoeba - move by pseudopods

2. Ciliophora  Ciliates - move by cilia
3. Mastigophora  Flagellates - move by flagella
4. Sporozoa  complex life cycle
Diversity among Protozoa
 Amoeba
• Entamoeba histolytica
– Amoebic dysentery

• Naegleria
– primary amoebic
meningoencephalitis

• Acanthamoeba
– contact lens contaminant

Figure 12.18a
 Amoebae

• Protozoa with no truly defined shape

• Move and acquire food through the use of
pseudopodia
• Found in water sources throughout the world
• Few cause disease
 Entamoeba histolytica

• Carried asymptomatically in the digestive tracts

of humans
• No animal reservoir exists
• Infection usually occurs by drinking water
contaminated with feces that contain cysts
• Trophozoites migrate to the large intestine
where they multiply
 Entamoeba histolytica
• Three types of amebiasis can result from infection
– Luminal amebiasis
• Least severe form that is asymptomatic
– Invasive amebic dysentery
• More common form of infection
• Characterized by bloody, mucus-containing stools
and pain
– Invasive extraintestinal amebiasis
• Trophozoites carried via the bloodstream throughout
the body
• Maintaining clean water is important in prevention
The Course of Amoebiasis Due to Entamoeba histolytica
 Acanthamoeba and Naegleria
• Cause rare and usually fatal brain infections
• Common inhabitants of natural waterways as well as
artificial water systems
• Contact lenses wearers who use tap water to wash their
lenses can become infected
• Acanthamoeba diseases
– Infection occurs through cuts or scrapes, the
conjunctiva, or through inhalation
– Acanthamoeba keratitis results from conjunctival
inoculation
– Amebic encephalitis is the more common disease
 Acanthamoeba and Naegleria
• Naegleria disease
– Infection occurs when swimmers inhale contaminated
water
– Amoebic meningoencephalitis results when
trophozoites migrate to the brain
• Prevention is difficult because these organisms are
environmentally hardy
 Flagellate
• Trichomonas vaginalis
– no cyst stage
– Trichomoniasis - STI
• Giardia lamblia
– intestinal malabsorption
– Traveler's diarrhea, day
care centers, hikers

Figure 12.17b-d
Giardia
 Hemoflagellates
– Trypanosoma
• African sleeping
sickness or Chagas
disease
• Transmitted by tsetse
flies or reduviid bugs

– Leishmania
• leishmaniasis –
“Baghdad Boil”-
Desert Storm
• Transmitted by sand
fly vector
 Ciliates
• Complex cells with
rudimentary mouth
(cytostome)

• Balantidium coli is the

only human parasite
– intestinal disease
– associated with pork
• Paramecium
• Vorticella
Figure 12.20
 Ciliates
• Protozoa that use cilia in their trophozoite stage
• Balantidium coli is the only ciliate known to cause
disease in humans
• Commonly found in animal intestinal tracts
• Humans become infected by consuming food or
water contaminated with feces containing cysts
• Trophozoites attach to the mucosal epithelium
lining the intestine
• B.coli infections are generally asymptomatic in
healthy adults
 Ciliates

• Balantidiasis occurs in those with poor health

– Characterized by persistent diarrhea,
abdominal pain, and weight loss
– Dysentery results in severe infections
• Presence of trophozoites is diagnostic for the
disease
• Prevention relies on good personal hygiene and
efficient water sanitation
 Apicomplexans (Sporozoa)
• Characteristics:
– Nonmotile, Intracellular parasites
– Complex life cycles, Asexual/sexual reproduction

• Plasmodium – malaria
– transmitted by Anopheles mosquito
• Cryptosporidium – diarrhea; AIDS related
• Toxoplasma – toxoplasmosis; AIDS related
• Detected in the blood

• Plasmodium: the cause of malaria. There are 4 species that infect

man: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae

• Toxoplasma gondi: transmitted by the ingestion of oocysts from cat

faeces. Infection can lead to ocular problems and is also a cause of
neonatal toxoplasmosis

• Leishmania: transmitted by sand flies, can lead to visceral,

cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis

• Trypanosoma: haemoflagellates which cause

– In Africa - sleeping sickness (transmitted by the Tsetse fly)
– In South America - Chagas disease (transmitted by the Reduviid bug)
 Plasmodium
Sporozoites 1 Infected mosquito bites 2 Sporozoites
in salivary human; sporozoites undergo
gland migrate through schizogony in
bloodstream to liver cell;
liver of human merozoites
are produced
9 Resulting sporozoites
migrate to salivary glands
of mosquito
3 Merozoites
Sexual released into
reproduction bloodsteam from
liver may infect
Asexual new red blood
8 In mosquito’s cells
Zygote digestive tract, reproduction
gametocytes
unite to form Intermediate host
Female
gametocyte zygote
4 Merozoite develops
Male into ring stage in red
gametocyte blood cell

Ring
stage
5 Ring stage
grows and
Definitive host divides,
producing
7 Another mosquito bites 6 Merozoites are released merozoites
infected human and ingests when red blood cell
gametocytes ruptures; some merozoites
infect new red blood cells,
and some develop into
male and female
gametocytes Merozoites

Figure 12.19
Plasmodium
 Cryptosporidium parvum
•Waterborne
•Found in cattle
•Attach to intestinal lining
•Cause watery diarrhea
•Acid-fast Oocysts
•Resistant to chlorine

Figure 25.19
Cryptosporidium life cycle
Toxoplasma gondii
Eukaryotic Microbes

Table 12.1
 Helminths - worms
• Life Stages
– egg, larva, adult; complex life cycles
– infective stage: egg or larva
– definitive host: harbors adult stage
– intermediate hosts: may be more than one

• Classifications:
• Nematodes - roundworms
• Platyhelminthes - flatworms
– Trematodes - flukes- nonsegmented
– Cestodes - tapeworms- segmented
 Nematodes- Roundworms
• Intestinal roundworms:
– Ascaris (Giant intestinal roundworm)
– Enterobius (Pinworm)
– Necator / Ancylostoma (Hookworm)
• Tissue roundworms
– Trichinella spiralis - trichinosis
 Features of the Life Cycle of
Roundworms
• Parasites of almost all vertebrates
• Have a number of reproduction strategies
– Most intestinal nematodes shed their eggs into the
lumen of the intestine
• Eggs are eliminated in feces
• Eggs are consumed in contaminated food or water
– Some intestinal nematodes release their eggs into the
soil
• Larvae actively penetrate the skin of a host
• Inside the body, they travel to the intestine
 – Other nematodes encyst in muscle tissue and
are consumed in raw or undercooked meat
– Mosquitoes transmit a few species of
nematodes
• Adult sexually mature stages are found only in
definitive hosts
Nematodes - roundworms

Ascaris lumbricoides- adult stage

 Pinworm disease is the most
prevalent helminthic infection in
the United States
• Enterobius vermicularis
• Life cycle
• Diagnosis with cellophane tape
• Transmission
Enterobius - Pinworm

Figure 12.29
Diagnosing Pinworm Disease
Necator or Ancylostoma -
Hookworm
 The Life Cycle of the Hookworms
Ancylostoma duodenale and Necatur americanus
Trichinella
 Filariasis is a
lymphatic system infection
• Wuchereria bancrofti
• Life cycle
• Transmission by
mosquito
• Symptoms
 Elephantiasis
 Platyhelminthes - Flatworms
• Trematodes – Flukes - nonsegmented
– Schistosoma - blood fluke; Swimmer’s itch

• Cestodes – Tapeworms - segmented

– Taenia – beef or pork tapeworm
– Echinococcus – wild dog tapeworm
Trematodes - Flukes

Figure 12.25
Schistosoma – blood fluke
 Cestodes - Tapeworms
•Tapeworm parts:
•Scolex
head with attachment
site
•Proglottids
body segments with
testes and ovaries

Taenia saginata
•beef tapeworm
Taenia solium
•pork tapeworm
•cysticercosis Figure 12.27
 A few other tapeworms also
cause disease
• Hymenolepis nana, the dwarf tapeworm, most
common human tapeworm worldwide
• Echinococcus granulosus, the dog tapeworm,
humans are intermediate hosts
Echinococcus

Figure 12.28
 Arthropods as Vectors
• Kingdom: Animalia
– Phylum: Arthropoda
(exoskeleton, jointed legs)
• Class: Insecta (6 legs)
– Lice, fleas, mosquitoes
• Class: Arachnida (8 legs)
– Mites and ticks
– May transmit diseases (vectors)

Figure 12.31, 32
Arthropods as Vectors

Figure 12.33
Arthropod Vectors

Figure 23.24
Scabies - mite
 Arachnids
• Adult arachnids have four pairs of legs
• Ticks and mites resemble each other morphologically
• Ticks are the most important arachnid vectors
– Serve as vectors for bacterial, viral, and protozoan
diseases
– Second only to mosquitoes in the number of diseases
they transmit
– Hard ticks are the most prominent disease vector
– Transmit Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted
fever, tularemia, relapsing fever, and tick-borne
encephalitis
 Arachnids
• Parasitic mites are found wherever humans and animals
coexist
– Transmit rickettsial diseases among animals and
humans
 Insects
• Adults have three pairs of legs as well as a head, thorax,
and abdomen
• Fleas
– Most fleas are not associated with humans but a few do
feed on humans
– Plague is the most significant disease transmitted by
fleas
• Body lice
– Parasites that can also transmit disease
– Most common among poor or overcrowded
communities
 Insects
• Flies
– Among the most common insects
– Those that transmit disease are generally
bloodsuckers
• Mosquitoes
– Most important arthropod vector of disease
– Carry some of the world’s most devastating diseases
• Kissing bugs
– Often take blood meals near the mouth of their
human hosts
– Feed on blood nocturnally while the host sleeps
 Eukaryotic Microbe
Parasites
• Protozoa • Helminths
– Amoeba – Roundworms
• Entamoeba histolytica Intestinal
• Naegleria • Ascaris lumbricoides
• Acanthamoeba • Enterobius vermicularis
– Flagellates • Necatur americanus
• Giardia lamblia Tissue
• Trichomonas vaginalis • Trichinella spiralis
• Trypanosoma • Wucheraria bancrofti
• Leishmania
– Ciliates – Flatworms
• Balantidium coli Flukes
– Sporozoa • Schistosoma
• Plasmodium Tapeworms
• Cryptosporidium • Taenia
• Toxoplasma
• Arthropods
– Insects
– Arachnids
 Taxonomic classification of helminths
Sub Phylum Class Genus – examples
kingdom
Metazoa Nematodes Ascaris (roundworm)
Round worms; appear round in Trichuris (whipworm)
cross section, they have body Ancylostoma (hookworm)
cavities, a straight alimentary Necator (hookworm)
canal and an anus Enterobius (pinworm or
threadworm)
Strongyloides

Platyhelminthes Cestodes Taenia (tapeworm)

Flat worms; dorsoventrally Adult tapeworms are found in the
flattened, no body cavity and, if intestine of their host
present, the alimentary canal is They have a head (scolex) with
blind ending sucking organs, a segmented
body but no alimentary canal
Each body segment is
hermaphrodite

Trematodes Fasciolopsis (liver fluke)

Non-segmented, usually leaf- Schistosoma (not leaf
shaped, with two suckers but no shaped!)
distinct head
They have an alimentary canal
and are usually hermaphrodite
and leaf shaped
Schistosomes are the exception.