Article
Article
Medical parasitology
Article By:
Heyneman, Donald Health and Medical Sciences Program, University of California, Berkeley, California.
Last reviewed:July 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.413000
The study of diseases of humans caused by parasitic agents. Medical parasitology is commonly limited to parasitic worms (helminths; Fig. 1) and protozoans. Most scientific usage places the various nonprotozoan microbes in distinct disciplines, such as virology, rickettsiology, and bacteriology. Medical entomology, which can be considered as a branch of medical parasitology, deals with insects that serve as intermediate hosts or vectors of parasites; it also deals with the noxious effects of the insects themselves. Ticks, mites, and other noninsect arthropods are often included, although they are more accurately combined with insects in the field of medical arthropodology. See also: Economic entomology; Insecta; Medical bacteriology; Parasitology; Zoonoses
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