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A parasite is an organism that lives a significant period of its life in or on another organism (the host), from which it obtains
nourishment and shelter. The challenge to the parasite is that it must block or elude host defenses, but the reward is an abundant and reliable source of food.
Many parasites have complex life cycles. There are many different possible strategies for the parasite to follow.
…Some have one host whereas others have multiple hosts.
…Some use intermediate hosts for transport.
…The host may live or be killed by the parasite.
…Sometimes the host´s life is spared, but the parasite eliminates the host's reproductive abilities.
Parasites can be viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, arthropods or helminths. They can cause a number of medical, veterinary and agricultural problems. Examples include amoebic dysentery, giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, pinworm and scabies. It has been estimated that parasitism is more common than all other forms of disease. It is a major problem in third world countries. Also included are links to a number of parasitology lecture courses, sites with lots of images and other cool sites.
Lecture Notes
http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/parasit/P_index.html
Parasitology lecture notes, slides and exams from University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
http://mentor.lscf.ucsb.edu/parasitology/para111.html
Parasitology lecture notes from University of California - Santa Barbara
http://www.parasitology.org/
Parasitology lecture notes from College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri - includes images, lab procedures and a
glossary
Images
The Parasitology Images List (JPEG format)
http://www.life.sci.qut.edu.au/LIFESCI/darben/paramast.htm
A Pictorial Presentation of Parasites (>2300 images with accompanying notes)
http://parasite.biology.uiowa.edu/image
Atlas of Medical Parasitology
http://www.cdfound.to.it/HTML/atlas.htm
Other cool sites
The American Society of Parasitology http://www-museum.unl.edu/asp/
info on Cryptosporidium
http://www.ksu.edu/parasitology/
Plant and Insect Parasitic Nematodes Homepage
http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/plntpath/nematode/wormhome.htm
The World of Parasites
Has a map you can click out to see which parasites are found where - from there it gives info on the organism (with images), disease,
occurrence and mortality
http://martin.parasitology.mcgill.ca/JIMSPAGE/WORLDOF.HTM
The Parasitology Resources Page
http://www.pasteur.fr/Bio/parasito/Parasites.html
Parasites and Parasitological Resources
Contains images and life cycles, resource links and special topics (Is a SciCentral selection and has won a number of awards including Science Guide 5 testtube site)
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/home.html
``WormLearn Glossary is an on-line parasitology information package designed for anyone who'd like to find out some more information about parasitic worms and other critters that have a tendency to share our personal space." http://smople.thehub.com.au/~wormman/wormglos.htm
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