Latest Parasitology Stories
Research leads to new "scaling" rule for abundance and production of animalsAnimal species all follow the same rule for how common they are in an ecosystem, scientists have discovered. And the rule is simple.Everything from birds to fishes, crabs to snails to worms, and the parasitic animals that live inside or on them, follows it."You can predict how common something might be just by knowing its body weight--how big an individual is--and how high up the food chain it is,"...
It seems we may have parasites to thank for the existence of sex as we know it. Indiana University biologists have found that, although sexual reproduction between two individuals is costly from an evolutionary perspective, it is favored over self-fertilization in the presence of coevolving parasites. Sex allows parents to produce offspring that are more resistant to the parasites, while self-fertilization dooms populations to extinction at the hands of their biological enemies.The July 8...
AMSTERDAM, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- New Open Access Journal Dedicated to Collaborations and Cutting-Edge Research in Parasitology Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, in association with the Australian Society for Parasitology [http://parasite.org.au ], is pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance. The new electronic open...
Perfect for the dad who loves his yard but can't enjoy because of bloodthirsty mosquitoes -- the ALLCLEAR Mosquito Mister. Approved by Terminix, the nation's leading pest control provider, ALLCLEAR gets rid of mosquitoes in just three minutes and repels them for hours...all with the click of a remote control! Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) June 06, 2011 Give dad the gift of a bug-free backyard this Father's Day with the ALLCLEAR® Cordless Mosquito Mister and 100% NATURALSâ„¢ insect...
An international research team using a new combination of approaches has found two genes that may prove of vital importance to the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers in a tsetse fly-plagued swathe of Africa the size of the United States. The team's results were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The research, aimed at finding the biological keys to protection from a single-celled trypanosome parasite that causes both African sleeping...
Scientists working in a laboratory at Vanderbilt University have potentially discovered a class of insect repellent that is 1000 times more effective than DEET and works against all types of insects. "It wasn't something we set out to find," said David Rinker, a graduate student who performed the study in collaboration with graduate student Gregory Pask and post-doctoral fellow Patrick Jones. "It was an anomaly that we noticed in our tests." Reported in the online edition of the Proceedings...
New research reveals how biological arms races between cuckoos and host birds can escalate into a competition between the host evolving new, unique egg patterns (or 'signatures') and the parasite new forgeries.Brood parasitic birds such as cuckoos lay eggs that mimic those of their hosts in an effort to trick them into accepting the alien egg and raising the cuckoo chick as one of their own.New research from the University of Cambridge has found that different bird species parasitized by the...
An international team of scientists published new research this week on the origins of flies and, and despite popular belief, the common ancestry house flies have with mosquitoes. Researchers, publishing a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, said the mosquito branched off the same evolutionary tree as the house fly about 220 million years ago, while the house fly branched off about 170 million years later. While only a few species of flies are commonly...
NIH-funded study finds way to reduce transmission of malaria to humansSpraying malaria-transmitting mosquitoes with a genetically modified fungus can kill the malaria parasite without harming the mosquito, potentially reducing malaria transmission to humans, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, the study was led by Raymond J. St. Leger, Ph.D., of the...
Research published in Genetics proposes a system for spreading disease-resisting genes in mosquito populationsScientists have modeled a system that may be used to control mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, without the use of pesticides. In the proposed system, mosquitoes are engineered to carry two genes. The first gene causes males to transmit a toxin to females through their semen. The second gene, when expressed in females, makes them immune to this toxin. This research, published...
Latest Parasitology Reference Libraries
Echinococcus multilocularis is a species of tapeworm that is classified within the Platyhelminthes phylum. It is one of a few worms that cause echinococcosis, a disease that affects many canid species including wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, domesticated dogs. Humans can also contract this disease. Adult members of this species can reach an average length of .2 inches, and like other species of tapeworm, its body is segmented by three proglottids. Its head, or scolex, is equipped with...
Trichinella spiralis, sometimes known as the pork worm, is a parasite within the Nematoda class. It can be found in pigs, rats, humans, and bears. This worm causes trichinosis in humans, most often from consuming undercooked pork. This species is the smallest within its class, reaching an average body length of .16 centimeters. Females are twice as large as males, displaying a sexual dimorphism. The reproductive organs of females are unique to the species in that the front end holds developed...
The eye-worm (Loa loa) is a species of roundworm within the Nematoda phylum. It can be found in India and Africa, among other areas. This species causes a disease known as Loa loa filariasis and is one of three species that can cause subcutaneous filariasis in humans. Females are larger than males, reaching an average body length of up to 2.7 inches, with males reaching an average body length of up to 1.3 inches. The first stage of life for the eye-worm begins when an adult worm, which is...
The common liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica), also known as the sheep liver fluke, is a parasitic flatworm in the Trematoda class. This species can infect sheep, cattle, humans, and other animals across the world. This species is one of the largest of its kind, reaching an average body length of 1.1 inches, with a width of up to .5 inches. This species is shaped like a worm and is typically wider at the front end, although some individuals have wider back ends. The front end holds a cone like...
The New World hookworm (Necator americanus) is a hookworm that can be found in the New World. This species, along with other species in the Nematode phylum, is a parasitic worm that is commonly found in cats, dogs, and humans. Infections from this species are known as Necatoriasis. However, there are two common species of hookworm that infest humans, known as the Old World hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale) and the New World hookworm, so infections are generally known as hookworm infections....
