The two main types of intestinal parasites are helminths and protozoa.

Helminths are worms with many cells. In their adult form, helminths cannot multiply in the human body. Protozoa have only one cell, and can multiply inside the human body, which can allow serious infections to develop. Intestinal parasites are usually transmitted when someone comes in contact with infected feces. Cytokines are proteins in the immune system that help to oust intestinal worms in mouse lungs and also initiate a cascade of healing by mobilizing various elements of the immune system to reduce inflammation and clear infectious debris while simultaneously simulating so called growth factor steroids and other proteins to quickly repair the damaged cell. The initial cytokine action is called a Th2 response, because it involves immune system white blood cells called Type 2 helper T cells. Th2 response has secondary potent acute wound healing effects. The orchestrated enhanced wound healing response, which includes control of harmful inflammation and direct mediation of wound repair, may have evolved in the host to mitigate harmful effects of the considerable acute tissue damage. Signs and Symptoms Parasites can live within the intestines for years without causing any symptoms. When they do, symoptoms include the following: Abdominal pain Diarrhea Nausea or vomiting Gas or Bloating Dysentery Rash or itching around the rectum or vulva Stomach pain or tenderness Feeling tired Weight Loss Passing a worm in your stool What can it cause? These things raise your risk for getting intestinal parasites: Living in or visiting an area known to have parasites

International travel Poor sanitation Poor hygiene Age(chidren and elderly are more likely to get infected Exposure to child and institutional care centers Having a weakened immune system HIV or AIDS

Protozoa are helpful because they eat harmful bacteria. They are also helpful in the food chain because they are a source of food for fish and other animals. he usefulness of protozoa can be discuss under the following heads: Helpful in Sanitation: A large number of protozoans living in polluted water feed upon waste organic substances and thus purify it. Numerous holozoic protozoa feed upon bacteria and play an important role in the sanitary betterment and keeping water safe for drinking. Protozoa in food: Although so minute, the protozoans are so numerous that they form sources of food supply to man both indirectly. The protozoans are ingested or fed byinsect larvae, crustaceans and worms, which are devoured by fishes, calm and other bigger animals, these constitute the food of man. The pelagic foraminifers and Radiolaria after death sink to the ocean bottom and along with the debris form the fundamental food supply, the dinoflagellates constitute a large part of plankton, which is utilized by the aquatic animals. Some of the protozoans are photosynthetic and can produce eighty times as much food as the most efficient protein producing crops. Symbiotic protozoans: Certain protozoa like Trichonympha and colonympha etc. live in the intestine of termites and wood cockroaches and help in the digestion ofcellulose, which

is converted into glycogen to be utilized by the host. Commercial use of Protozoans: The skeletal deposits of foramenifera and Radiolaria form oceanic ooze at the bottom of the sea. This is converted into important rock strata.

The debilitating parasitic illness known as schistosomiasis infects roughly 200 million people worldwide, making it second only to malaria in importance for public health. Currently just one drug, praziquantel, commonly treats the chronic disease, raising fears that the parasite could evolve resistance against it. Now, Conor R. Caffrey of the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues have found a new drug that can kill the blood flukes that cause the ailment. They investigated the drug K11777, which interferes with the flukes' digestive enzymes, and discovered that it could eliminate the parasites in lab mice. If effective in humans, K11777 could work in tandem with praziquantel, with the former taking care of early-stage illnesses and the latter killing later-stage infections. - Charles Q. Choi