Definitions for PARASITES
par·a·sites

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1. parasites

   Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes. There are six major parasitic strategies of exploitation of animal hosts, namely parasitic castration, directly transmitted parasitism (by contact), trophically-transmitted parasitism (by being eaten), vector-transmitted parasitism, parasitoidism, and micropredation. One major axis of classification concerns invasiveness: an endoparasite lives inside the host's body; an ectoparasite lives outside, on the host's surface. Like predation, parasitism is a type of consumer–resource interaction, but unlike predators, parasites, with the exception of parasitoids, are typically much smaller than their hosts, do not kill them, and often live in or on their hosts for an extended period. Parasites of animals are highly specialised, and reproduce at a faster rate than their hosts. Classic examples include interactions between vertebrate hosts and tapeworms, flukes, the malaria-causing Plasmodium species, and fleas. Parasites reduce host fitness by general or specialised pathology, from parasitic castration to modification of host behaviour. Parasites increase their own fitness by exploiting hosts for resources necessary for their survival, in particular by feeding on them and by using intermediate (secondary) hosts to assist in their transmission from one definitive (primary) host to another. Although parasitism is often unambiguous, it is part of a spectrum of interactions between species, grading via parasitoidism into predation, through evolution into mutualism, and in some fungi, shading into being saprophytic. People have known about parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms since ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In early modern times, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed Giardia lamblia in his microscope in 1681, while Francesco Redi described internal and external parasites including sheep liver fluke and ticks. Modern parasitology developed in the 19th century. In human culture, parasitism has negative connotations. These were exploited to satirical effect in Jonathan Swift's 1733 poem "On Poetry: A Rhapsody", comparing poets to hyperparasitical "vermin". In fiction, Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula and its many later adaptations featured a blood-drinking parasite. Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien was one of many works of science fiction to feature a parasitic alien species.

U.S. National Library of MedicineRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Parasites

   Invertebrate organisms that live on or in another organism (the host), and benefit at the expense of the other. Traditionally excluded from definition of parasites are pathogenic BACTERIA; FUNGI; VIRUSES; and PLANTS; though they may live parasitically.

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1. parasites

   Song lyrics by parasites -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by parasites on the Lyrics.com website.

Anagrams for PARASITES »

1. aspirates

2. pastieras

3. satrapies

How to pronounce PARASITES?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say PARASITES in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of PARASITES in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of PARASITES in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of PARASITES in a Sentence

1. Mike Super:

   What's nice about proteins like this fcMBL from the innate immune system is that they bind the sugars which are part of the cell wall of the pathogens. They bind to the cell wall of bacteria, of fungi, of many viruses and many parasites and they bind to toxins as well.

2. Matthew Frye:

   It's not that these parasites can infest our bodies.

3. Karl Reinhard:

   Parasites travel long distances within their hosts, protozoa [single-celled organisms], as well as parasites, can be found in ancient contexts.

4. Khadija Abraham:

   Experiments show that these rats can detect a sample with TB parasites in a second and evidence has shown that they are able to sniff out even those with very minimal parasites.

5. Aubrey Cunnington:

   We do not know whether the report is referring only to the stage of the parasites which can cause disease or whether it is also referring to the stage which can be transmitted by mosquito bite, the data reported don't tell us directly what the impact on transmission, control or elimination might be. However it does remind us of this problem... and it highlights the need for more work on this problem.

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References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasites