lOMoARcPSD|29669969
Parasites of Clinical Importance
Protozoa
PARASITE
ASSOCIATED DISEASE
MODE OF
TRANSMISSION
INFECTIVE
STAGE
Entamoeba hystolitica
Amebiasis
fecal-oral route
Cyst
Naegleria fowleri
Meningo-encephalitis
Acanthamoeba
Acanthamoeba keratitis
Granulomatous encephalitis
Disseminated infection
Balantidium coli
Balantidiasis
fecal-oral route
Cyst
Giardia lamblia
Giardiasis
fecal-oral route
Cyst
Trichomonas vaginalis
Trichomoniasis
sexual intercourse
Trophozoite
Trophozoite
Trypanosoma brucei
African Trypanosomiasis
(Sleeping sickness)
bite of an infected
tsetse fly; congenital;
blood transfusion
Bite of an infected
triatomine bug;
congenital; blood
transfusion
Trypomastigote
Trypomastigote
Wear protective neutral-colored clothing, use insect
repellant; control of reservoir and vector;
nifurtimox or benznidazole
Promastigote
Amastigote
Reduction of sand flies population, reduction of
reservoir, education in the community, prevention of
exposure to sand fly; sodium stibogluconate
(Pentostam), amphotericin B, paromomycin, and
miltefosine (Impavido).
Sporozoite
Trophozoite
Schizont
Gametocyte
Use of bed nets, wearing of long-sleeves, apply
insect repellant, use of indoor residual spray;
chloroquine, quinine, or primaquine
Trypanosoma cruzi
Leishmania spp.
Plasmodium spp.
American Trypanosomiasis
(Chagas disease)
Nasal contact w/ water;
traumatic eye damage
inhalation of cysts and
trophozoites; improper
contact lens-care
practices; traumatic
injection; entry through
pre-existing wounds
Leishmaniasis (Neglected
Tropical Disease)
Bite of infected
Phlebotomine sand
flies; congenital; blood
transfusion
Malaria
Bite of infected female
Anopheles mosquito;
blood transfusion;
congenital
DIAGNOSTIC
STAGE
Cyst and
Trophozoite
Trophozoite
Trophozoite
Trophozoite
Cyst and
Trophozoite
Cyst and
Trophozoite
Cyst and
Trophozoite
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PREVENTION & CONTROL
improved sanitation, hygiene, and water treatment;
Metronidazole, iodoquinol, chloroquine
refrain from water-related activities in warm
freshwater; Amphotericin B, Miltefosine
good contact lens hygiene and disinfection
practices; cationic antiseptic agent; Miltefosine
Tetracycline, iodoquinol. Nitrimidazine or
Metronidazole
practice good hygiene;
metronidazole, tinidazole, and nitazoxanide
Use of condoms or dams; metronidazole (Flagyl) or
tinidazole (Tindamax)
lOMoARcPSD|29669969
Toxoplasmosis
Eating undercooked
contaminated meat,
exposure from infected
cat feces, or mother-tochild transmission
during pregnancy
Cryptosporidiosis
Swallowing
contaminated water
while swimming or
drinking
Cystoisospora belli
Isosporosis
Indirect contact with
contaminated food and
water; oral-anal contact
Cyclospora cayetonensis
Cyclosporiasis
eating or drinking
contaminated food or
water
Toxoplasma gondii
Cryptosporidium
Tachyzoites (in
groups or
clones),
Bradyzoites (in
tissue cysts),
Sporozoites (in
oocysts).
Sporulated
Oocyst
(containing
sporozoites)
sporulated
oocyst
containing two
sporocysts (w/
sporozoites)
Sporulated
oocyst
cysts may be
observed;
Serology and/or
PCR are used
for diagnosis
a) Cooking meat to a safe temperature; b) peeling or
thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables before
eating; c) cleaning cooking surfaces and utensils; d)
pregnant women avoiding changing cat litter; and e)
not feeding raw or undercooked meat to cats;
pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, plus folinic acid.
Sporulated
Oocyst
Water filtration, swimming pools must be drained if
infected fecal accident is recorded, pasteurization,
handwashing; Nitazoxanide,
immature oocyst
that contains a
spherical mass
of protoplasm
Handwashing and personal hygiene, avoiding food
or water that might be contaminated with stool;
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
Unsporulated
oocyst
Avoiding food or water that might have been
contaminated with stool; Trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole
Parasites of Clinical Importance
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lOMoARcPSD|29669969
Helminths
Legend:
- Nematodes
PARASITE
ASSOCIATED DISEASE
- Trematodes
MODE OF
TRANSMISSION
INFECTIVE
STAGE
DIAGNOSTIC
STAGE
Ascaris lumbricoides
Ascariasis
fecal-oral route
Embryonated
egg
Fertilized/
Unfertilized egg
Trichuris trichiura
(whipworm)
Trichuriasis
fecal-oral route
(alimentary)
Embryonated
ova
Unembryonated
ova
Enterobius vermicularis
(pinworm)
Enterobiasis /Pinworm
infection
Hookworms
Hookworm disease or
infection (ancylostomiasis,
necatoriasis)
Fecal-oral route; via
contact with
contaminated clothes,
bedding, personal care
products, and furniture;
inhalation followed by
swallowing of egg;
autoinfection
Fecal-soil-oral:
Ingestion of larvae and
walking barefoot on
contaminated soil
(invades intact skin)
Strongyloides
stercoralis
Strongyloidiasis
Cochin China diarrhea
Contact with soil; fecalsoil-oral (invades intact
skin); autoinfection
Trichinella spiralis
Trichinosis
Trichiniasis
Ingestion of improperly
cooked pork
Filarial worms
Lymphatic Filariasis/
Bite of an infected
Embryonated
egg
Eggs on perianal
fold
- Cestodes
PREVENTION & CONTROL
Sanitary disposal of feces, hygienic habits such as
cleansing hands before meals. Health education, do
no use night soils as fertilizer; Mebendazole,
Albendazole, and Levamizole, Pyrantel pamoate
Prevent contamination of soil with human feces,
construction of latrines, washing hands before
eating, washing vegetables and fruits, do not use
night soils; Mebendazole, Albendazole, Ivermectin
Personal cleanliness and hygiene, trimming of nails,
avoid scratching anal area, cleansing bathroom and
toilet, showering every morning and washing the
anal area, frequent handwashing; Pyrantel,
Mebendazole, Albendazole, antipruritic ointment,
Eggs in feces
Not to walk barefoot where there may be human
fecal contamination, effective sewage disposal
system, not defecating outdoors, health education;
Albendazole, Mebendazole, Ferrous sulfate (for
anemia)
Filariform larva
Rhabditiform
larva
Wearing of shoes, sanitation, screening before
transplantation, proper sewage disposal and feces
management; Thiamendazole, Cambendazole, and
Ivermectin
Encysted larva
in striated
muscles of pig
L3 Larvae
Larvae encysted
in muscle in
biopsy
Microfilariae
Properly cook pork and feed pigs with cooked
garbage, pork inspection in slaughter houses using a
trichinoscope; Mebendazole and Albendazole
Large scale treatment of all at-risk population,
Filariform
larvae
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lOMoARcPSD|29669969
Elephantiasis (Neglected
Tropical Disease)
 Mumu
 Loiasis (Calabar
Swellings)
 Dirofilariasis
(human infection by
dog heartworm)
 Onchocerciasis
(River blindness)
Schistosoma spp.
(Blood Fluke)
Opisthorchis
(Clonorchis) sinensis
(Liver Fluke)
Fasciola hepatica
(Liver Fluke)
Fasciolopsis buski
(Giant intestinal fluke)
Paragonimus
westermani (Lung
Fluke)
Taenia solium
(Pork tapeworm)
Taenia saginata
(Beef tapeworm)
Dibothriocephalus latus
(Broad tapeworm/ Fish
Schistosomiasis
Clonorchiasis
Fascioliasis
Fasciolopsiasis
Paragonimiasis
Taeniasis
Cysticercosis (in T. solium
only)
Diphyllobothriasis
vector control – destruction of breeding sites;
morbidity management and disability prevention,
surveillance of disease in endemic areas;
Diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC), Paramethyl
phenyl stibonate, and arsenical preparation
mosquito
Direct skin penetration
of cercariae during
swimming
Fecal-oral route;
Ingestion of
inadequately cooked
fish
Ingestion of raw, freshwater vegetation
Ingestion of raw water
plants
Ingestion of infected
crab or crawfish that is
raw, partially cooked,
pickled/salted
Ingestion of raw or
undercooked pork (T.
solium) or beef (T.
saginata)
Ingestion of fish that
harbor infectious larvae
Cercaria
released by the
snail into the
water
Egg
Metacercaria
Embryonated
egg
Encysted
Metacercaria
Metacercaria
Encysted
Metacercariae
Cysticerci in
muscles of
beef/pork
Embryonated
egg
(cysticercosis)
Plerocercoid
larvae
Preventive chemotherapy, snail control,
environmental management, health education and
social mobilization, sanitation, access to safe water,
avoid swimming in freshwater in countries known
to have parasite; Praziquantel, Vasnil, Oxamniquine,
Metrifonate
Avoid eating inadequately cooked freshwater fish
and shrimp, sanitary disposal of the excreta, avoid
drinking contaminated water, control of snails;
Praziquantel
Unembryonated
egg
Unembryonated
egg
Education, Wash aquatic vegetables, better herding
practices, moluskicide; Praziquantel and
Albendazole, Bithional, triclabendazole, Surgery
Unembryonated
egg
Education on food preparation, full cook shellfish,
freeze fish (-20ºC for 7 days), make spitting illegal,
use moluskicide to control snail population, treat
patient and carriers, avoid eating raw fresh water
crabs and crayfish; Praziquantel
Eggs or gravid
proglottid
Unembryonated
egg
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Health education, avoid eating raw pork and/or beef,
avoid pigs/cows eating human stool, sanitary
inspection of slaughter and sanitary disposal of
night soils, deep freezing for meat with small
numbers of cysticerci; Praziquantel, albendazole,
Mebendazole, Paromomycin, Quinacrine
hydrochloride and atabrin
Treatment of infected patients, personal hygiene and
environmental sanitation, prevent eggs to reach
lOMoARcPSD|29669969
water by providing adequate latrines combined with
health education; cook fish to 63ºCor freezing fish
to -20ºC for at least 24 hours to a week can kill
infective larvae; Praziquantel, Niclosamide
tapeworm)
Hymenolepis nana
(Dwarf tapeworm)
Hymenolepiasis
Hymenolepis diminuta
(Rat tapeworm)
Fecal-oral route;
autoinfection
Embryonated
egg (H. nana) or
cysticercoid in
arthropods
Embryonated
egg
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Personal cleanliness, treatment of infected persons –
include all contact family members, rodent control;
Praziquantel, Niclosamide