What is a parasite? How do parasites reproduce and develop?

Types of parasites in humans are very diverse, can be completely parasitic or incomplete, endogenous or exogenous, human skin parasites or subcutaneous parasites, ..

Parasites are living things that have to depend on other living things like humans, animals and plants to survive. Parasites are called hosts. Parasites will take over the host's biological material to survive and develop. Medical parasitology is the study of parasites that infect and cause disease in humans.
Human parasites have many forms of parasites such as:
Complete parasites: also known as lifelong obligate parasites such as roundworms, whipworms, hookworms. Or incomplete parasites: is a temporary form of parasites, at times parasitic, at times free to breed blood-sucking insects. Internal parasites: are forms of parasites inside the human body such as tapeworms, liver flukes, ... Or exogenous parasites are forms of parasites outside the body such as clinging to the skin or sucking blood through the skin like cysts. medicine. There are parasites on the human skin, there are also parasites under the skin. Parasites can only parasitize a certain host species, if lost, they will not survive like roundworms. Or the parasite has the ability to parasitize and develop on many different hosts such as lung flukes, liver flukes, ...

2.1. How do human parasites reproduce? Human parasites have many forms of reproduction such as:
Asexual reproduction by cell duplication. With this method, an individual will duplicate itself into two new individuals without mating between males and females. Common in protozoan parasites such as flagellates, amoeba, malaria parasites,... Sexual reproduction: is a form of reproduction performed by mating between males and females such as roundworms, hookworms, pinworms,... In addition, there are bisexual parasites that have both male and female genitals on their bodies for mating such as liver flukes, tapeworms,. .. Polyembryonic reproduction: as a result of sexual reproduction, eggs hatch into larvae, larvae develop into larval follicles. Then, in the larval cyst there are many sprouts that give rise to second generation larvae, the second generation larvae give rise to third generation larvae. The third generation larvae, when met with a suitable host, will develop into adult flukes. This is a special form of reproduction commonly seen in some species of tapeworms and tapeworms, from an initial egg that will develop into many adult flukes.

2.2. How do human parasites develop? The life cycle of a parasite is the process of developing from an egg to an adult, being able to reproduce and continuing the new cycle. Human parasites have many different types of life cycles and development such as:
Cycle type: human←→external. For example: intestinal worms, amoeba. Intestinal worms parasitize the human intestine, laying eggs. Eggs are distributed to the outside world. If the soil environment is moist and the temperature is right, the embryo in the egg will develop into a larva. If people accidentally ingest roundworm eggs in water, the food is contaminated with worm eggs. Worm larvae will escape from the egg shell, move from the intestine to other parts of the body, then return to the intestine and lay eggs. Cycle type: human → external → intermediate host → human. For example, the small liver fluke. Small liver flukes parasitize the bile ducts in the liver. Lay eggs in bile, eggs to the outside by feces. Eggs, if exposed to water, will hatch into feathery larvae. Hairy larvae find parasites in snails that hatch into tail larvae. Tail larvae leave the snail to find parasites in fish species, forming cysts in the fibers of these fishes. If people eat uncooked fish containing cysts, the larvae will enter the body and migrate to the liver and bile. Cycle type: human → external → intermediate host → external → human. For example, schistosomiasis, which is parasitic in the blood vessels, is also called a blood fluke. Adult schistosomes are parasitic in the blood, schistosomiasis eggs are excreted in feces or urine. The schistosome eggs fall into the water to hatch hairy larvae to enter the snail. Tail larvae emerge from snails, swim in water, and burrow through human skin into the bloodstream. Cycle type: human → intermediate host → human. For example, the life cycle of the human pathogenic lymphatic filariasis. Mosquitoes containing filarial larvae, when biting, will transmit the larvae to humans, the larvae to the lymphatic system develop into adults and live in the human lymphatic system. Adult female worms produce larvae, which circulate in the blood and usually appear in the peripheral blood at night. The larvae are transmitted from person to person through an intermediate host, a mosquito. Cycle type: human ← → person. For example, vaginal thrush is passed from person to person during intercourse, scabies is transmitted by contact. Although human parasites have many modes of reproduction and many have different complex life cycles, in general, each type of parasite has a certain lifespan. In fact, some types of parasitic diseases will go away on their own if they are not re-infected. Maintaining body hygiene, ensuring safety when eating and drinking, and keeping the surrounding environment fresh and clean are the methods to protect yourself against the invasion of parasites.
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