CAREER GUIDES

Here's how a parasitology study the infection and transmission diseases caused by parasites

Image: 123RF/Alexandr Sorokin.

Parasitology is the study of parasites, their modes of infection and transmission, diseases caused by parasites, and immune responses to them.

It is a specialization within the agricultural, biological and veterinary sciences.

More than half of all living things survive by parasitism, living on or within other animals or plants.

For example, the list of animals that can be classified as parasites may include ticks, fleas, lice, tapeworms, flukes, intestinal roundworms, many protozoa, the larvae of some insects and some crustaceans.

Parasitology is a dynamic field since the relationships between parasites and their hosts are constantly changing.

Parasitism is defined as an ecological relationship between two individuals of different species where the parasite’s environment is another living organism.