Parasitic diseases: Protozoans
Protozoa - single celled organisms with a defined nucleus - live in many different habitats. These animations show how certain protozoa have evolved complex parasitic life cycles to exploit the human body, with serious consequences for health.
When a tsetse fly feeds on a human carrying trypanosomes, the ingested parasites develop within the fly, preparing for the next, human phase of their life cycle.
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Follow the journey of these single celled parasites, which cause human African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, from the gut of the tsetse fly into the human bloodstream.
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Here we see how the leishmania parasites enter the sand fly and we follow their maturation as they prepare for human infection.
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The bite from an infected sand fly can lead to disfiguring sores in the skin and can be deadly if the parasites reach the internal organs.
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How the malaria parasite develops in the mosquito.
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Follow the development of the malaria parasite in the human liver and red blood cells.
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The parasites use the triatomine insect as an incubator, maturing and multiplying until ready to be deposited on humans in the insect’s faeces.
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When Trypanosoma cruzi parasites enter the human body, through a wound or directly via an eye, they can cause a chronic, often fatal disease.
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