Parasitic relationships involve one organism benefiting while the other is harmed. Parasites use their hosts for food, habitat, and reproduction. Parasitoids kill their hosts. Kleptoparasitism and brood parasitism are examples. Viruses are also considered parasites. Parasitology studies these relationships and helps treat parasitic infections in humans. Humans can also be parasitic hosts, infected through various means.
A parasitic relationship is a relationship between organisms in which one organism, the parasite, derives some benefit from the other organism while the other organism, the parasitic host, is harmed by the relationship. The parasitic host is usually much larger than the parasite. Tapeworms, for example, are parasites that reside in the intestines of some vertebrates. While they can grow very long, their bodies generally remain small enough to fit inside the host’s intestinal tract.
Parasites use their hosts for many different purposes. Most commonly, the parasitic hosts are used as a food source for the parasite. They are also often used as a habitat for pests. Hookworms, for example, settle in the intestinal tracts of mammals such as dogs, cats and humans. Finally, parasites use their hosts as a medium for reproduction; tapeworms and other parasites tend to reproduce in large numbers within their hosts.
In some parasitic relationships, the larval development of the parasitic organism takes place in the body of the parasitic host. Parasites that do this are called parasitoids. In such situations, the parasitic host is almost invariably killed. In many cases, the parasitoid also consumes the host.
There are many different parasitic relationships that a parasitic host can be in. In kleptoparasitism, the parasite steals collected food from the host. Brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other organisms, which act as surrogate parents and keep the eggs safe. Often, the parasite removes one of the original eggs to make room for its own.
In general, only relationships between complex organisms can be considered parasitic relationships. For some purposes in biology, however, viruses are also considered parasites. Viruses attack and invade host cells, use them to reproduce, and spread to more cells, destroying the host cell of the parasite. Viruses, however, are not generally considered to be living organisms as they are not made up of cells
Parasitology is a branch of microbiology that deals with the relationships between parasites and their hosts. The field focuses on how parasites spread, what they gain from their hosts, and how they harm their hosts. Parasitologists often assist medical professionals in treating parasitic infections in humans.
It is not uncommon for a human being to be a parasitic host. Parasites infect humans through insect bites, raw meat, contaminated vegetables, and dust containing parasitic larvae. Many different types of worms, such as flatworms and liver flukes, commonly infect humans. Many types of small protozoa can also reside in the human body.
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