49
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Why is untreated trypanosomiasis invariably fatal in humans?
African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma brucei, a single-celled eukaryote. Being eukaryotic, it has a cell nucleus and a larger genome than most bacteria;...
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20
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Are some people more 'attractive' to mosquitos? If so, is that a hereditary trait?
There is a genetic component to mosquito's attraction to humans.
Female mosquitoes display preferences for certain individuals over others, which is determined by differences in volatile chemicals ...
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18
votes
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What's this stuff that looks like white chainmail armor growing on giant kelp?
That looks like it could be the lacy crust bryozoan (Membranipora membranacea). That bryozoan is an epiphytic animal whose native range includes the Pacific coast; it does not feed on the kelp, but ...
- 5,613
9
votes
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Worm found inside of wahoo
It is Giant Stomach Worm (Hirudinella Ventricosa).
It is a platyhelmith parasitic to Wahoo fish, feeding on its blood and found inside the stomach. It makes 98% of Wahoo's parasitic infections.
...
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6
votes
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Can a zombie apocalypse really occur?
There are many examples of parasite manipulation in nature, if you want more examples you can look up the paper of Lefevre and Thomas (2008). I think the key is, in order for a parasite to develop ...
- 131
5
votes
Why don't mosquitoes target the visible blood vessels under the skin?
For a mosquito, there is really no benefit to targeting those visible blood vessels. Mosquitoes take only a small amount of blood, and their proboscis is going to be a limiting factor anyways.
...
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5
votes
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How long does foreign DNA stay intact in human blood?
The De Vlaminck Lab has extensively studied the origins of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in human plasma and its utility in detecting infections and organ injury.1,2 Concerning your question of ...
- 8,326
5
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Questions about "parasite recursion"
Hyperparasitism is one possible term. According to the linked article it is commonplace in certain types of insects, but also in fungi. Apparently the cases of at least three levels are known: a ...
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5
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Photo attached of flies ‘injecting’ into spider egg sacs. Why? What’s going on here?
(Converting from comment)
Based on internet searches, it appears likely that the fly is Sarcophaga arachnivora, which lives off of spider egg cases in its juvenile form; the fly is laying eggs.
If you ...
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4
votes
Are there any plants that parasitize on animals?
Yes
Acrochaetium spiculiphilum is an marine endozoic parasite on sponges.
It is a Biliphyte algae and thus a plant.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-marine-biological-association-...
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4
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Can a zombie apocalypse really occur?
If there are drugs that can cause this kind of disorder you described, then it is possible to engineer a microbe, that can produce these drugs and maintain a chronic infection, which does not ...
- 4,462
4
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Are some people more 'attractive' to mosquitos? If so, is that a hereditary trait?
I would distinguish two major types of mosquito bites "risk factors": genetic predispositions and transient attractiveness.
Mosquitoes utilize different senses to localise and choose a host. ...
- 431
4
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How do schistosomes find and attach to human skin?
Schistosoma recognize human skin by mechanical, thermal and chemical stimuli from host. Attachment of parasite to skin is stimulated by L-arginine. Schistosomes specifically bind to L -argine by ...
- 1,317
4
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How do parasites "reprogram" brains?
Not much is known about the mechanisms involved, but they do appear to differ significantly from parasite to parasite. I'll discuss a few different examples here, and try to provide as much ...
- 696
4
votes
Is Pork more prone to carrying higher loads of parasites than Beef?
Trichenellosis from pork occurs in about about 5 people per year since the 1980's in the US. it has a 0.2% mortality rate there. We can say that 1 American/ 1 European dies from pig meat every 20 ...
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3
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The emergence of Phengaris butterflies from ant nests
I've been emailing some of the various researchers who worked on the papers I've cited. Jeremy Thomas and Judith Wardlaw both took time out of their (probably very busy!) schedules to reply, and they ...
- 696
3
votes
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What kind of parasite is this?
This is pear rust (Gymnosporangium sabinae).
It is fairly widespread in the northern hemisphere:
It is a fungal infection and affects pear trees from junipers. Pruning the affected nearby junipers ...
- 2,074
3
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What are the environmental conditions for larval Haemonchus contortus to survive?
Lowest temperature
2, 3, 4 and 5 week beakers containing eggs and non-infective larvae in lamb faeces didn't develop into infective larvae (L3) when exposed to fluctuating temperatures ranging from -1 ...
- 1,097
3
votes
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Why do so many parasites infect definitive and intermediate hosts rather than just one host?
Several reasons have been proposed.
We suggest that complex cycles in helminths without penetrative infective stages evolve by two essentially different processes, depending on where in the cycle a ...
- 14.3k
3
votes
Laurus Nobilis parasite identification
As @picapica has pointed out, I presume these are scale insects, the first instar of Japanese wax scale, Ceroplastes japonicus.
Laurus sp. is a host of this hemiptera in Italy.
Here is an image ...
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3
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Is it possible for a parasitic wasp to alter the behaviour of its host after emerging from it?
Another example is the wasp species Dinocampus coccinellae, which lays its eggs inside certain species of ladybug/ladybird - most notably the "twelve-spotted lady beetle" (Coleomegilla maculata). It ...
- 696
3
votes
What is meant by bionomics of a vector?
Bionomics is indeed the 'thorough' study of living organisms and their relationship with the environment/ niche they thrive in.
Aim of Bionomics is mainly to decipher the driving factors for an ...
3
votes
Are there complexity requirements on potential hosts to be susceptible to parasites?
"Complexity" is a difficult term to operate with in biology; most people that use it don't have an idea of how they'd like to operationally define it, and without an operational definition ...
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3
votes
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Can these things be done at home on a hobbyist budget?
Yes, and no as to bacterial and fungal samples. For these you need a conventional light microscope that transmits the light through the sample. These are the common ones when people consider ...
- 12.9k
2
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What is the difference between Reservoir and paratenic hosts?
Reservoir host: The host of an infection in which the infectious agent multiplies and/or develops and on which the agent is dependent for survival in nature; essential host for maintenance of the ...
- 4,836
2
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Parthenogenesis Induction
This issue is addressed in this review by Cordaux et al, 2011, along with other, similar strategies.
The simple answer is that these types of bacteria are efficiently spread from females of the ...
- 46.5k
2
votes
can one be infected with Naegleria fowleri by taking Steam?
N. fowleri infection can occur after nasal and sinus irrigation, swimming and other exposures to contaminated water. The infectious agent in this case is the trophozoite, not the cyst. Boiling water ...
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If a "parasite" is growing on a dead part of the host or on a completely dead host, does it still count as a parasite?
In parasitic interactions, one species (the parasite) benefits from the interaction while the other (the host) is harmed. So, whether an interaction is parasitic or not really depends on whether on ...
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Could you identify the species of this animal attaching to a fish in the Aegean Sea?
Given the rough shape I lean towards an ectoparasitic isopod. I have no idea which one of the roughly 2700 species it might be, but I would guess from a quick search that it probably belongs to the ...
- 12.9k
2
votes
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Can DNA barcoding be employed to determine the order of an unidentified haematophagous parasite?
Yes--this is possible and has been done, e.g.:
DNA barcoding identifies Eimeria species and contributes to the phylogenetics
of coccidian parasites (Eimeriorina, Apicomplexa, Alveolata) (doi: 10.1016/...
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