Title
Parasitology
Date Issued
01 January 2009
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
book part
Author(s)
Universidad Peruano Cayetano Heredia
Universidad Peruano Cayetano Heredia
Publisher(s)
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
This chapter will cover most of the organisms that directly or indirectly compromise tissues through human infection. Although in developed countries they are considered exotic diseases just to be diagnosed in travelers, many of them represent a major health problem for developing countries around the world. Parasites have accompanied mankind since antiquity. Dracunculiasis is described in the Ebers papyrus from 1500 BC, and references to this disease are clearly identified in the Bible. The ancient symbol of medicine, the staff of Asklepios, is believed by some scholars to also represent the treatment of dracunculaisis which involves slowly extracting the worm by winding it around a stick. This treatment is still in use to this day. Tenias were described by the ancient Greeks and are cited by Aristotle in his History of Animals. Protozoa have ancient history in human disease annals. Evidence of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA has been found in mummies from Peru and northern Chile dating from 2000 BC to AD 1400. Old world cutaneous leishmaniasis is described on tablets in the library of King Ashurbanipal from the 7th century BC. The famous Arab physician Avicenna already described oriental sore in the 10th century as Balkh sore. New world leishmaniasis, as mucocutaneous disease, is clearly represented in ancient Peruvian pottery from the 5th century. The separation of Old World and New World Leishmanisis was a contribution of Gaspar Vianna, who in 1911 created a new species, Leishmania braziliensis.
Start page
117
End page
132
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
ParasitologĂ­a
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84928060385
ISBN
9780511576829 9780521897297
Resource of which it is part
Skin Infections: Diagnosis and Treatment
Sources of information: Directorio de ProducciĂ³n CientĂ­fica Scopus