A report on Parasitism, Malaria and Biological pest control

A fish parasite, the isopod Cymothoa exigua, replacing the tongue of a Lithognathus
Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell
Syrphus hoverfly larva (below) feed on aphids (above), making them natural biological control agents.
Head (scolex) of tapeworm Taenia solium, an intestinal parasite, has hooks and suckers to attach to its host
Main symptoms of malaria
A parasitoid wasp (Cotesia congregata) adult with pupal cocoons on its host, a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta, green background), an example of a hymenopteran biological control agent
The parasitic castrator Sacculina carcini (highlighted) attached to its crab host
The life cycle of malaria parasites. Sporozoites are introduced by a mosquito bite. They migrate to the liver, where they multiply into thousands of merozoites. The merozoites infect red blood cells and replicate, infecting more and more red blood cells. Some parasites form gametocytes, which are taken up by a mosquito, continuing the life cycle.
Cactoblastis cactorum larvae feeding on Opuntia prickly pear cacti
Human head-lice are directly transmitted obligate ectoparasites
Micrograph of a placenta from a stillbirth due to maternal malaria. H&E stain. Red blood cells are anuclear; blue/black staining in bright red structures (red blood cells) indicate foreign nuclei from the parasites.
Rodolia cardinalis, the vedalia beetle, was imported from Australia to California in the 19th century, successfully controlling cottony cushion scale.
Clonorchis sinensis, the Chinese liver fluke, is trophically transmitted
Electron micrograph of a Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell (center), illustrating adhesion protein "knobs"
The invasive species Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed) was controlled in Florida (U.S.) by introducing alligator weed flea beetle.
The vector-transmitted protozoan endoparasite Trypanosoma among human red blood cells
The blood film is the gold standard for malaria diagnosis.
Hippodamia convergens, the convergent lady beetle, is commonly sold for biological control of aphids.
Mosquitoes are micropredators, and important vectors of disease
Ring-forms and gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum in human blood
An inverted flowerpot filled with straw to attract earwigs
Life cycle of Entamoeba histolytica, an anaerobic parasitic protozoan transmitted by the fecal–oral route
An Anopheles stephensi mosquito shortly after obtaining blood from a human (the droplet of blood is expelled as a surplus). This mosquito is a vector of malaria, and mosquito control is an effective way of reducing its incidence.
Predatory lacewings are available from biocontrol dealers.
Cuscuta (a dodder), a stem holoparasite, on an acacia tree
Man spraying kerosene oil in standing water, Panama Canal Zone, 1912
Predatory Polistes wasp searching for bollworms or other caterpillars on a cotton plant
The honey fungus, Armillaria mellea, is a parasite of trees, and a saprophyte feeding on the trees it has killed.
Walls where indoor residual spraying of DDT has been applied. The mosquitoes remain on the wall until they fall down dead on the floor.
The parasitoid wasp Aleiodes indiscretus parasitizing a gypsy moth caterpillar, a serious pest of forestry
Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, is transmitted by Ixodes ticks.
A mosquito net in use.
Encarsia formosa, widely used in greenhouse horticulture, was one of the first biological control agents developed.
Enterobacteria phage T4 is a bacteriophage virus. It infects its host, Escherichia coli, by injecting its DNA through its tail, which attaches to the bacterium's surface.
An advertisement for quinine as a malaria treatment from 1927.
Life cycles of greenhouse whitefly and its parasitoid wasp Encarsia formosa
Restoration of a Tyrannosaurus with holes possibly caused by a Trichomonas-like parasite
Deaths due to malaria per million persons in 2012
Green peach aphid, a pest in its own right and a vector of plant viruses, killed by the fungus Pandora neoaphidis (Zygomycota: Entomophthorales) Scale bar = 0.3 mm.
Wolbachia bacteria within an insect cell
Past and current malaria prevalence in 2009
Cane toad (introduced into Australia 1935) spread from 1940 to 1980: it was ineffective as a control agent. Its distribution has continued to widen since 1980.
Biologists long suspected cospeciation of flamingos and ducks with their parasitic lice, which were similar in the two families. Cospeciation did occur, but it led to flamingos and grebes, with a later host switch of flamingo lice to ducks.
Ancient malaria oocysts preserved in Dominican amber
The protozoan Toxoplasma gondii facilitates its transmission by inducing behavioral changes in rats through infection of neurons in their central nervous system.
British doctor Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for his work on malaria.
Trait loss: bedbug Cimex lectularius is flightless, like many insect ectoparasites.
Chinese medical researcher Tu Youyou received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for her work on the antimalarial drug artemisinin.
The dry skin of vertebrates such as the short-horned lizard prevents the entry of many parasites.
Artemisia annua, source of the antimalarial drug artemisinin
Leaf spot on oak. The spread of the parasitic fungus is limited by defensive chemicals produced by the tree, resulting in circular patches of damaged tissue.
U.S. Marines with malaria in a field hospital on Guadalcanal, October 1942
The rescuing from extinction of the California condor was a successful if very expensive project, but its ectoparasite, the louse Colpocephalum californici, was made extinct.
Members of the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations collecting larvae on the Danube delta, 1929
Parasites are distributed very unevenly among their hosts, most hosts having no parasites, and a few hosts harbouring most of the parasite population. This distribution makes sampling difficult and requires careful use of statistics.
1962 Pakistani postage stamp promoting malaria eradication program
A plate from Francesco Redi's Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi (Observations on living animals found inside living animals), 1684
Malaria clinic in Tanzania
Ronald Ross won the 1902 Nobel Prize for showing that the malaria parasite is transmitted by mosquitoes. This 1897 notebook page records his first observations of the parasite in mosquitoes.
Child with malaria in Ethiopia
"An Old Parasite in a New Form": an 1881 Punch cartoon by Edward Linley Sambourne compares a crinoletta bustle to a parasitic insect's exoskeleton
World War II poster
Fictional parasitism: oil painting Parasites by Katrin Alvarez, 2011
Disability-adjusted life year for malaria per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004 no data <10 0–100 100–500 500–1000 1000–1500 1500–2000 2000–2500 2500–2750 2750–3000 3000–3250 3250–3500 ≥3500
Idiobiont parasitoid wasps immediately paralyse their hosts for their larvae (Pimplinae, pictured) to eat.
Koinobiont parasitoid wasps like this braconid lay their eggs inside their hosts, which continue to grow and moult.
Phorid fly (centre left) is laying eggs in the abdomen of a worker honey-bee, altering its behaviour.
A hyperparasitoid pteromalid wasp on the cocoons of its host, itself a parasitoid braconid wasp
The large blue butterfly is an ant mimic and social parasite.
In brood parasitism, the host raises the young of another species, here a cowbird's egg, that has been laid in its nest.
The great skua is a powerful kleptoparasite, relentlessly pursuing other seabirds until they disgorge their catches of food.
The male anglerfish Ceratias holboelli lives as a tiny sexual parasite permanently attached below the female's body.
Encarsia perplexa (centre), a parasitoid of citrus blackfly (lower left), is also an adelphoparasite, laying eggs in larvae of its own species

It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role.

- Biological pest control

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.

- Parasitism

The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood.

- Malaria

Hyperparasites can control their hosts' populations, and are used for this purpose in agriculture and to some extent in medicine.

- Parasitism

The sturdy and prolific eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) is a native of the southeastern United States and was introduced around the world in the 1930s and '40s to feed on mosquito larvae and thus combat malaria.

- Biological pest control

Another new application of genetic technology is the ability to produce genetically modified mosquitoes that do not transmit malaria, potentially allowing biological control of malaria transmission.

- Malaria
A fish parasite, the isopod Cymothoa exigua, replacing the tongue of a Lithognathus

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