Trypanosoma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iTrypanosoma

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Protista
Phylum:	Euglenozoa
Class:	Kinetoplastea
Order:	Trypanosomatida
Genus:	Trypanosoma

Trypanosoma is a notable genus of trypanosomes, a monophyletic<ref name="Hamilton04">Hamilton, PB (2004). "Trypanosomes are monophyletic: evidence from genes for glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase and small subunit ribosomal RNA.". Int J Parasitol 34 (12): 1393–1404. PMID 15542100.</ref> group of unicellular parasitic protozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypaô (boring) and soma (body) because of the way the organisms move. Different species infect a variety of different vertebrates, including humans, causing the trypanosomiasis diseases, e.g. sleeping sickness. Most species are transmitted by invertebrates such as biting insects and leeches.

Trypanosoma undergo a complex lifecycle which may include several different morphological forms especially in the species which are transmitted by invertebrates. They may go through a variety of different forms in the invertebrate host, but in the vertebrate host the cells take a characteristic form called a trypomastigote, where the flagellum is runs from the posterior to the anterior of the cell and is connected by an undulating membrane.

Species of Trypanosoma include the following:

T. avium, which causes trypanosomiasis in birds
T. boissoni, in elasmobranch
T. brucei, which causes sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in cattle
T. carassii, in freshwater teleosts
T. cruzi, which causes Chagas disease in humans
T. congolense, which causes nagana in cattle, horses, and camels
Trypanosoma equinum Voges 1901, Horses infected by Tabanidae, South America
T. equiperdum, which causes dourine or Covering sickness in horses and other Equidae
T. evansi, which causes one form of the disease surra in certain animals (single case report of human infection in 2005 in India<ref>World Health Organization. (2005). "A new form of human trypanosomiasis in India. Description of the first human case in the world caused by Trypanosoma evansi". Wkly Epidemiol Rec 80 (7): 62–3. PMID 15771199.

</ref> was reported in India in 2005 and was successfully treated with suramin.<ref>Joshi PP, Chaudhari A, Shegokar VR, et al. (2006). "Treatment and follow-up of the first case of human trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi in India". Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 100 (10): 989–91. DOI:10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.11.003.</ref>)