Welcome!

Most of us have heard the phrase "third time's a charm," usually indicating that if previous attempts had failed, the third try must be the lucky one that will succeed. Well, somehow the parasite Paragonimus westermani, more commonly known as the human lung fluke, must have heard this, too, as it readily infects three different hosts throughout its lifecycle and goes through reproduction. The catch, though, is that the first two attempts, or hosts, aren't failures. In fact, if a third host is infected, the first two were very much successes, for the fluke needs to inhabit these organisms first in order to fully mature. When it does mature, the parasite will look similar to the image found in the header, which was obtained from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paragonimus_westermani.png.

Because it does occupy numerous different hosts, including humans, P. westermani is involved in numerous interactions with other organisms, interactions that are crucial to the development of the fluke's form and function. Fortunately for those of us here in the U.S., this parasite predominantly makes its habitat in various parts of Asia.

The above information is just a hint of the material you will find here about this greedy, yet fascinating, parasite. This website will, and was created to, provide additional basic, as well as in-depth, information on Paragonimus westermani, so if you've tried and failed to find info on this organism, you may have found your lucky site. You'll probably discover more interesting facts than you had set out to. If you have any questions on the information you find here, don't hesitate to contact us. Go ahead and explore!

 

For similar pages (created by other Organismal Biology students) on a variety of other creatures, we encourage you to explore MultipleOrganisms.net. 

 

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References