NEW GUINEA TAPEWORMS AND JEWISH GRANDMOTHERS
Chapter 1 - Parasites, Progress and the Past
1. What is a vector and an intermediate host and what is the difference between the
two?
2. Anopheles mosquitoes breed on the surface of the water and the larvae have limited
ability to move from the surface to the deeper areas. Water covered with vegetation
creates a lot of protected surface film in which Anopheles can breed. What type of
water vegetation created this type of problem in Rangoon?
3. What is the vector of Japanese encephalitis and what mechanical device caused its
increase in numbers?
4. What is the clinical term for the bone condition indicating chronic anemia and what is
it?
Chapter 2 – The Unified Theory of Perspiration, Evolution and Infection
1. What are three anatomical and physiological differences that set us apart from other
animals?
2. What is the name of the gland that produces sweat?
3. Why would sweating be an advantage for primitive man?
4. What is the difference between “large group” and “small group” infections?
5 What is a zoonosis?
Chapter 3 – On New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers
1. Some people believe that “life and sanity require harmony with the spirit world”.
What parasite interferes with this basic belief in Indonesia New Guinea?
2. What is the name of the immature stage of the tapeworm that causes the serious
form of the disease primarily discussed in this chapter?
3. Fecal examination is sometimes of poor efficacy in diagnosing some parasitic
infection. What percent of Taenia is often positive by fecal exam?
4. What Scandinavian parasite sometimes infected Jewish grandmothers?
Chapter 4 – How the Wise Men Brought Malaria to Africa
1. What genus of mosquito carries the malaria organism?
2. Describe the kind of environment in which the malaria mosquito thrives.
3. What was the lost economic productivity in a study done in Paraguay by the Pan
American Health Organization?
Chapter 5 – The Bean, the Gene and Malaria
1. How many amino acids constitute a molecule of hemoglobin, how many are modified
in the sickle cell condition and what substitution is made?
2. What two events caused the problem with sickle cell anemia in much of Africa?
3. What other genetic condition also may confer some protection against malaria and in
what pathway does the lacking enzyme normally function?
4. Malaria can be stopped by the host in a number of ways: lack of nutrients, inability to
penetrate cells or the adaptive immune response. Which protein in the cell
membrane interferes with the ability of the parasite to attach and penetrate?
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Chapter 6 – The Fly that would be King
1. Which trypanosome do we share, like so many other parasites, with pigs?
2. Name at least three differences between T. gambiense and T. rhodesiense.
3. What is the scientific name (genus) of the tsetse fly?
4. Describe the sequence of events that can occur that shows how short term use of
insecticides MAY cause an increase in the number of cases of disease.
Chapter 7 – River Blindness
1. What is the name of the worm that causes River Blindness and also the name of its
vector?
2. Where in the western hemisphere was River Blindness first believed to be
introduced?
3. Why has research on onchocerciasis been so limited?
4. What do dams have to do with this disease?
Chapter 8 – Controlling the Schistosome at a Snail’s Pace
1. What species of schistosome is most prevalent in China?
2. How did the Chinese attack schistosomiasis?
3. List at least four reasons the Aswan Dan increased the problems Egypt had with
schistosomiasis.
4. What species of schistosomes are found in Egypt?
5. What is the genus of the main snail intermediate host of schistosomes in Egypt?
6. What are the three species of trematode that causes human schistosomiasis and
how are they different?
Chapter 9 – Harmonious Parasites
1. List three ways that malaria may benefit the host.
2. List at least two other parasites that may have beneficial effects on their host and
what those affects are.
Chapter 10 – The Wheeze and the Worm
1. Which cell in the immune response releases histamine when stimulated by an
allergen or IgE?
2. How could histamine and antibody cause the expulsion of intestinal worms?
3. “Cause” is a difficult concept to prove in medical research. There is difficulty in
proving a relationship between worms and asthma. In fact, asthma, being a
symptom, may have more than one cause. List at least three worms that have been
shown to have an association with asthma.
4. How many classes of antibody are produced by the human body, what are their
names and which one is most responsible for allergic reactions?
Chapter 11 – Dangerous Nymphs of Nantucket
1. Who were the two American who first showed that Babesia was transmitted by a tick
and when did they publish this data? (By the way, this was the first proven case of
arthropod transmission of a pathogen.)
2. Who called ticks “disgusting parasitic animals”?
3. What species of tick is the vector for Babesia on Nantucket?
4. List at least three reasons why one species of tick might be a vector and a similar
species in the same genus is not.
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Chapter 12 – Itamae San, Sashimi Ni Mushi, Ga Imasu!
1. What was the source of the outbreak of anasakiasis in Rotterdam in the late 1950s
and early 1960s?
2. What is the fist intermediate host of the genus Anasakis?
3. What chronic intestinal disease has been misdiagnosed when it was actually
anasakiasis?
Chapter 13 – Regarding Giardia
1. Where did the largest and longest outbreak of giardiasis occur, how many cases
were there and how long did it last?
2. What is the treatment of choice for giardiasis?
3. The parasite Giardia appears to interfere with absorption of several compounds in
the small intestine. Name three.
4. What is the incubation period for giardiasis?
5. Who first saw Giardia cysts?
Chapter 14 – Unseemly Behavior
1. What are some of the conditions that can lead to the symptom diarrhea?
2. Why do people of tropical and developing nations often defecate more frequently
than those of industrial nations?
3. List five customs or behaviors that have interfered with control measures for malaria
or filariasis in the past.
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