Arthropods Health Dictionary

Arthropods: From 1 Different Sources


Arthropods are segmented invertebrates with jointed legs. They include a wide range of organisms, such as scorpions, mites, ticks, spiders and centipedes (see also ARBOVIRUSES).
Health Source: Medical Dictionary
Author: Health Dictionary

Arbovirus

A class of viruses transmitted by arthropods. Name contracted from “arthropod-borne viruses”.... arbovirus

Arboviruses

A heterogenous group of around 500 viruses, which are transmitted to humans by ARTHROPODS. Grouped in four families, they include the viruses of DENGUE and YELLOW FEVER which are transmitted by mosquitoes.... arboviruses

Communicable Period

The time or times during which the infectious agent may be transferred directly or indirectlyfrom an infected person to another person, from an infected animal to human, or from an infected human to an animal, including arthropods. In diseases such as diphtheria and scarlet fever, in which mucous membranes are involved from the first entry of the pathogen, the period of communicability is from the date of first exposure to a source of infection until the infective microorganism is no longer disseminated from the involved mucous membranes, ie, from the period before the prodromata until termination of a carrier stage, if this develops. Most diseases are not communicable during the earlyincubation period or after full recovery. In diseases transmitted by arthropods, such as malaria and yellow fever, the periods of communicability are those during which the infectious agent occurs in infective form in the blood or other tissues of the infected person in sufficient numbers to permit vector infections. A period of communicability is also to be distinguished for the arthropod vector - namely, that time during which the agent is present in the tissues of the arthropod in such form and locus (infective stage) as to be transmissible.... communicable period

Host

A human or other living animal, including arthropods, affording under natural conditions subsistence or lodgement to an infectious agent. Some protozoa and helminths pass through successive stages in alternate hosts of different species. Hosts in which the parasite attains maturity or passes its sexual stage are primary or definitive hosts; those in which the parasite is in a larval or asexual state are secondary or intermediate hosts Host preference The preference of a mosquito (or other parasite or micropredator) for a particular type of host, human or animal. (To be distinguished from simple readiness to feed on a given type of host when no other is available).... host

Insecticide

Chemical that kills insects and other arthropods, such as mites. Chemicals that kill ticks and mites often termed acaricides.... insecticide

Parasite

A plant or animal which lives upon or within or upon another living organism at whose expense it obtains some advantage without compensation. By convention, human parasitology covers the study of the protozoa, helminths and arthropods infecting humans.... parasite

Reservoir Of Infectious Agent

Any human beings, animals, arthropods, plants, soil, or inanimate matter in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies and on which it depends primarily for survival, reproducing itself in such manner that it can be transmitted to a susceptible host.... reservoir of infectious agent

Ticks

Ticks are blood-sucking arthropods which are responsible for transmitting a wide range of diseases to humans, including ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER, African tick typhus, LYME DISEASE and ?èvre boutonneuse (see TYPHUS FEVER). Apart from being transmitters of disease, they cause intense itching and may cause quite severe lesions of the skin. The best repellents are dimethyl phthalate and diethyltoluamide. Once bitten, relief from the itching is obtained from the application of calamine lotion. Tick-bites are an occupational hazard of shepherds and gamekeepers. (See also BITES AND STINGS.)... ticks

Rickettsia

A type of small bacteria that can multiply only by invading other living cells. They are mainly parasites of arthropods such as ticks, lice, fleas, and mites.Side effects include harmless, orange-red discoloration of the urine, saliva, and other body secretions, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, jaundice, flu-like symptoms, rash, and itching. The drug interferes with the action of oral contraceptives.... rickettsia

Acarina

n. the group of arthropods that includes the *mites and *ticks.... acarina

Arthropod

n. any member of a large group of animals that possess a hard external skeleton and jointed legs and other appendages. Many arthropods are of medical importance, including the *mites, *ticks, and *insects.... arthropod

Porocephalus

n. a genus of wormlike arthropods occurring mainly in tropical Africa and India. The legless adults are parasites in the lungs of snakes. The eggs, which are ejected with the snake’s bronchial secretions, may be accidentally swallowed by humans. The larva bores through the gut wall and usually migrates to the liver, where it develops into a nymph (see porocephaliasis).... porocephalus

Rickettsiae

pl. n. (sing. rickettsia) a group of very small nonmotile spherical or rodlike parasitic bacteria that cannot reproduce outside the bodies of their hosts. Rickettsiae infect arthropods (ticks, mites, etc.), through which they can be transmitted to mammals (including humans), in which they can cause severe illness. The species Rickettsia akari causes *rickettsial pox, R. conorii, R. prowazekii, R. tsutsugamushi, and R. typhi cause different forms of *typhus, R. rickettsii causes *Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Coxiella burnetii causes *Q fever. —rickettsial adj.... rickettsiae

Tick

n. a bloodsucking parasite belonging to the order of arthropods (the Acarina) that also includes the *mites. Tick bites can cause serious skin lesions and occasionally paralysis (see Ixodes; Amblyomma), and certain tick species transmit *typhus, *Lyme disease, and *relapsing fever. Diethyltoluamide (DEET) is used as a tick repellent. There are two families: Argasidae (soft ticks), which includes Ornithodoros, with mouthparts invisible from above and no hard shield (scutum) on the dorsal surface; and Ixodidae (hard ticks), including Dermacentor, Haemaphysalis, and Rhipicephalus, with clearly visible mouthparts and a definite scutum.... tick

Insect

n. a member of a large group of mainly land-dwelling *arthropods. The body of the adult is divided into a head, thorax, and abdomen. The head bears a single pair of sensory antennae; the thorax bears three pairs of legs and, in most insects, wings (these are absent in some parasitic groups, such as lice and fleas). Some insects are of medical importance. Various bloodsucking insects transmit tropical diseases, for example the female Anopheles mosquito transmits malaria and the tsetse fly transmits sleeping sickness. The bites of lice can cause intense irritation and, secondarily, bacterial infection. The organisms causing diarrhoea and dysentery can be conveyed to food on the bodies of flies. See also myiasis.... insect



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