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Entamoeba histolytica
- parasitizes large intestines and feeds on RBCs eroding intestinal lining producing ulcerative lesions
- is endemic in tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world
- Disease: causes amoebiasis dysentary --producing bloody diarrhea
- Transmission: fecal-oral route
- Diagnosis: O&P exam on stool and look for cysts
- Tx: Flagyl
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Giardia intestinalis (lambia)
- it is an intestinal flagellates and is most common in our area
- 2 forms: troph and cyst
- Troph: motile form, pear shaped, sucking disc resist peristalsis have a pair of nucleii-look that look like eyes
- several pairs of flagella
- Cyst: nonmotile, resistant resting stage and axostyles
- Disease: causes frothy green diarrhea, flatulence, dehydration
- AKA "Beaver Fever"
- Transmission: contaminated water with bear, deer, or beaver feces; person to person, and fecal-oral route
- Dx: O&P for cyst, if negative, then String test for trophs. Test for antibodies also
- Tx: Flagyl
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Trichomonas vaginalis
- pear shaped flagellated protozoan
- Disease in men - asymptomatic carriers but the protozoa lives in urethral surfaces, prostate and seminal fluids
- Disease in women: lives in genital cuosa causing itching, yellow-green discharge, vaginitis, and urinary problems
- Transmission: STD or live in fomites
- Dx: wet prep of vaginal secretions can be found in a pap smear--look for motile trophs
- Tx: Flagyl and treat sexual partners
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Leshmania spp
- Transmitted by sandflybite usually in the desert
- "Baghdad boil"
- infects WBC causing fever and anemia
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Plasmodium spp
- Disease: causes malaria, fever, chills, cyclic fevers, fatigue and cause liver damage, the disease infects RBC
- Transmission: anopheles mosquito bite; the sporozoite is carried in the mosquito
- Dx: see infected RBC in blood smears called ring form
- Tx: Quinine drugs
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Taxoplasma gondii
- Disease: mild, self-limiting disease often asymptomatic; causes severe congenital defects in infants born in infected women
- Transmission: found in cat, cow, and sheep feces; transmitted by handling cat feces or eating undercooked infected beef or lamb
- Dx: Toxoplasmosis antibodies
- Tx: no treatment
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Cryptosporidum spp
- Disease: infects the intestinal lining and causes profuse diarrhea lasting 1-2 weeks or death
- Transmission: fecal-oral route, contaminated water with oocyte--FILTRATION is required as chlorine does not kill the organism
- Dx: FA smear of feces
- Tx: no effective treatment
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