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Parasitic Infections
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Parasitic infections represent a wide variety of infections caused by worms, small insects, and non-bacterial single celled organisms such as protozoans, among other things. Parasites tend to be much smaller than the host animal or human and reproduce in great numbers. The advantage goes to the parasite that takes from the host but does not give anything appreciable back to the host. Examples include Plasmodium and its many species, flukes, worms, and fleas. Parasites, by nature, reduce the health of the host in many ways but generally do not kill the host because it would interrupt the life cycle of the parasite and would kill the parasite as well.
Parasites that live on the outside of the host are called ectoparasites and include fleas and mites. Endoparasites live on the inside of the host and include amoeba and parasitic worms. Endoparasites are sometimes able to live within the cells of the host body and other times live outside the cells of the body (intercellular). Intracellular parasites often rely on a vector or organism that does the job of transmitting the parasite, such as Plasmodium, which lives in the host's red blood cells in the form of malaria. It is transmitted via the bite of a mosquito.
The parasite's biggest problem is how to transmit itself between its various hosts. Sometimes a parasite passes eggs or cysts through the stool of the host, which is picked up by other organism. This is true of flukes, thorny-headed worms and tape worms. Other times, the parasite is in the blood of the host and is transmitted to another host, such as a mosquito when the mosquito sucks the blood of the host. Other parasites are passed through the water in the egg or cyst form. The larvae of the bot fly burrow into the human skin and eat the flesh while growing large enough to erupt from the skin and fall out as nearly mature flies. Bot flies are common to tropical and subtropical climates but are not seen in temperate climates. Some parasites are taken in by the host through ingestion. They often remain in the digestive tract until they pass through the stool; however, others go from the intestinal tract to the blood of the host organism and are then passed out of the host through blood-sucking insects.
Symptoms of a parasitic infection are many and depend on the type of parasite involved. For example, some worms get so big that they can block the bowel, causing constipation. They can also block the common bile duct, leading to jaundice and gallbladder dysfunction. Others can cause diarrhea, especially protozoa, that produce a prostaglandin that leads to frequent and watery stools. This helps the parasite pass through the stool better, ensuring its survival. People often feel gassy and bloated when the parasites live in the upper small intestine. It is worse whenever you are eating food that is hard to digest. You can have some of these symptoms for months or years before it is picked up by an astute clinician. Many people feel as though they have irritable bowel syndrome with alternating diarrhea and constipation along with crampy abdominal pain. There can be actual malabsorption of nutrients, particular those nutrients that are fatty, like fat soluble vitamins. This can lead to excessively bulky and fatty stools.
Some parasites can lead to muscle pains and aches. These are parasites that form cysts in the muscles or joint fluid. The end result is an immune response to the parasitic cysts and the feeling of arthritis or muscle pains.
Some people get anemic from a parasitic infection. This is especially true with malaria. In other situations, a parasitic worm can latch onto the intestinal wall and can get its nutrition from the blood flowing near the intestinal tract. One can get either iron deficiency anemia or B12 (pernicious) anemia.
Parasites can trigger allergies. They can perforate the bowel, causing a leaky bowel syndrome in which particles from the bowel enter the bloodstream, triggering allergies. Doctors look for an increased eosinophil count when an allergic component to parasites is suspected. Hives and other rashes or eczema can occur as a result of parasitic infections. Granulomata, benign tumors involving allergic-related cells and parasites can be found in the lungs, liver, peritoneum or colon.