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112 Protozoan Infections

Protozoa are one-celled animals or animal-like eu­karyotic (having an organized nucleus) organisms. Older classifications treated the Protozoa as a phy­lum in the animal kingdom, but modern taxono­mists generally consider them members of a distinct kingdom, the Protista, along with other simple eu­caryotes.

Three phyla (or classes) of Protozoa have species pathogenic for humankind: (1) The Sarcomas- tigophora - the flagellates and amebas - include try­panosomes, Ieishmanias, and parasitic amebas; (2) the Ciliophora - the ciliates - have only one human pathogen - Balantidium coli, an intestinal parasite with wide distribution but, usually, little clinical significance; (3) the Apicomplexa — the sporozoans - include many important pathogens, including the four species of Plasmodium that cause malaria.

K. David Patterson

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Source: Kiple Kenneth F. (Editor). The Cambridge World History of Human Disease. Cambridge University Press,1993. — 1200 p.. 1993

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