A parasite

Parasites are organisms that live off other organisms and use them as a source of food. They can be either microscopic or large, such as worms or tapeworms. Parasites can exist in different environments, including water, land and air.

Parasites come in many forms, but they all have common features. They cannot produce their own food and need food from another organism. Some parasites can be very dangerous to their hosts, as they can cause serious illness and even death.

One of the most well-known parasites is the tapeworm, which lives in the intestines of humans and animals. It feeds on the blood and tissues of its host, which can lead to serious diseases such as dystrophy, anemia and cancer.

Another example of a parasite is Giardia, a protozoan that can live in the intestines of animals and humans. Giardia also feeds on the blood and tissues of their hosts, which can lead to various diseases.

In general, parasites pose a serious threat to the health of humans and animals. Therefore, it is important to practice good hygiene and monitor your health to avoid infection with parasites.

Parasite

Parasites are usually called animals that feed on another animal or person and cause harm to their owner. The Greeks considered parasites those people who received support from foreigners without the opportunity to pay them in return with good. Later (during the Middle Ages) such relationships began to be viewed as immoral. From an ethical point of view, the existence of parasites should not be envied: they exist at the expense of others and destroy themselves and those around them. Parasites are a typical community in which there is no equality of responsibilities. They are often found in nature. Some of them are the smallest organisms, others are comparable in size to mammals, or even exceed them in size. Despite this, all parasites are united and the only thing they have in common is their method of feeding. About 40 thousand species of organisms lead a parasitic lifestyle, and 12 thousand are known as causative agents of parasitic diseases in humans. There are parasites whose representatives can reach a length of 7 meters, weigh more than 50 kg, and have up to four pairs of wings. There are about 6 thousand species of parasites (of which 30 species belong to the class of helminths and are further divided into three orders). However, of these, only four groups pose a great danger to human health - helminths, protozoa, bloodworms and phyllopods. Thus, the diversity of parasites can be characterized as quite wide.

The main function of most parasite species is to select nutrients that they need for energy. This is why parasites can differ so much from each other in appearance and in the characteristics of their vital functions, in accordance with the set of nutrients in the body of their “host”. In the digestive system, the parasite receives blood from the capillaries of the intestine. In the external environment, the parasite sometimes attaches to the skin, less often to the genitals of the human body. In more than 85% of cases, the cause of parasitic infestation is helminthiasis - diseases caused by worms or other parasites that live inside various organs or tissues of living beings. In terms of severity, such diseases can take third place after cancer. Pinworm causes enterobiasis. The tapeworm large tapeworm leads to diphyllobothriasis, the small tapeworm, pork tapeworm, rat tapeworm, echinococcus, bovine and pork (hydatid) tapeworm - to taeniasis, and in severe cases, infection with dwarf and taeniasis is possible. Porcine tapeworm is often confused with pork tapeworm. Tapeworms belonging to the broad tapeworm species can cause diphyllobothriasis, paragonimiasis, and dipylidia. Leptospira causes leptospirosis. Roundworms of the genus hookworm and necator cause enterobiasis. The most common cause of opisthorchiasis in adults is opisthorchiasis, and the blood crustacean kokredoz is the Siberian fluke. Certain types of helminths include enterobiasis (pinworms), hymenolepiasis (dwarf flail