Editing Parasitism (section)

== History ==

=== Ancient ===

{{further|Human parasite}}

[[Human parasite]]s including roundworms, the [[Guinea worm]], [[Pinworm (parasite)|threadworms]] and tapeworms are mentioned in Egyptian papyrus records from 3000 BC onwards; the [[Ebers Papyrus]] describes [[hookworm]]. In [[ancient Greece]], parasites including the [[bladder worm]] are described in the [[Hippocratic Corpus]], while the comic playwright [[Aristophanes]] called tapeworms "hailstones". The Roman physicians Celsus and [[Galen]] documented the roundworms ''[[Ascaris lumbricoides]]'' and ''[[Enterobius vermicularis]]''.<ref name=Cox2004>{{cite journal |last=Cox |first=Francis E. G. |title=History of human parasitic diseases |journal=Infectious Disease Clinics of North America |date=June 2004 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=173–174 |pmid=15145374 |doi=10.1016/j.idc.2004.01.001 }}</ref>

=== Medieval ===

[[File:Francesco Redi Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi Plate 14.jpg|thumb|upright|A plate from [[Francesco Redi]]'s ''Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi'' (Observations on living animals found inside living animals), 1684]]

In his ''[[The Canon of Medicine|Canon of Medicine]]'', completed in 1025, the Persian physician [[Avicenna]] recorded human and animal parasites including roundworms, threadworms, the Guinea worm and tapeworms.<ref name=Cox2004/>

In his 1397 book ''Traité de l'état, science et pratique de l'art de la Bergerie'' (Account of the state, science and practice of the art of shepherding), {{ill|Jehan de Brie|fr|Jean de Brie}} wrote the first description of a trematode endoparasite, the sheep liver fluke ''[[Fasciola hepatica]]''.<ref name=ChengHistory/><ref>{{cite book |editor=Humphrey-Smith, Ian |title=Sept siècles de parasitologie en France |trans-title=The French School of Parasitology |language=fr |pages=26–29 |publisher=Société Française de Parasitologie |date=1993}}</ref>

=== Early modern<!--name of period--> ===

In the [[early modern period]], [[Francesco Redi]]'s 1668 book ''Esperienze Intorno alla Generazione degl'Insetti'' (''Experiences of the Generation of Insects''), explicitly described ecto- and endoparasites, illustrating [[ticks]], the larvae of [[Cephenemyiinae|nasal flies of deer]], and [[Fasciola hepatica|sheep liver fluke]].<ref name=Ioli1997>{{cite journal |last1=Ioli |first1=A. |last2=Petithory |first2=J. C. |last3=Theodorides |first3=J. |title=Francesco Redi and the birth of experimental parasitology|journal=Hist Sci Med |year=1997|volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=61–66 |pmid=11625103}}</ref> Redi noted that parasites develop from eggs, contradicting the theory of [[spontaneous generation]].<ref name=Bush2001>{{cite book |last1=Bush |first1=A. O. |author2=Fernández, J. C. |author3=Esch, G. W. |author4=Seed, J. R. |title=Parasitism: The Diversity and Ecology of Animal Parasites |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/parasitismdivers0000unse/page/4 4] |isbn=978-0-521-66447-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/parasitismdivers0000unse/page/4 }}</ref> In his 1684 book ''Osservazioni intorno agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi'' (''Observations on Living Animals found in Living Animals''), Redi described and illustrated over 100 parasites including the [[Ascaris lumbricoides|large roundworm]] in humans that causes [[ascariasis]].<ref name=Ioli1997/> Redi was the first to name the cysts of ''[[Echinococcus granulosus]]'' seen in dogs and sheep as parasitic; a century later, in 1760, [[Peter Simon Pallas]] correctly suggested that these were the larvae of tapeworms.<ref name=Cox2004/>

In 1681, [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]] observed and illustrated the protozoan parasite ''[[Giardia lamblia]]'', and linked it to "his own loose stools". This was the first protozoan parasite of humans to be seen under a microscope.<ref name=Cox2004/> A few years later, in 1687, the Italian biologists [[Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo]] and [[Diacinto Cestoni]] described [[scabies]] as caused by the parasitic mite ''[[Sarcoptes scabiei]]'', marking it as the first disease of humans with a known microscopic causative agent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pacs.unica.it/biblio/lesson5.htm |title=Acarus as the cause of scabies |publisher=University of Cagliari |access-date=11 April 2018 |archive-date=3 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703205914/http://pacs.unica.it/biblio/lesson5.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Ross, 20.Aug.1897.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ronald Ross]] won the 1902 [[Nobel Prize]] for showing that the [[malaria parasite]] is transmitted by mosquitoes. This 1897 notebook page records his first observations of the parasite in mosquitoes.]]

=== Parasitology ===

{{main|Parasitology}}

Modern [[parasitology]] developed in the 19th century with accurate observations and experiments by many researchers and clinicians;<ref name=ChengHistory>{{cite book |last=Cheng |first=Thomas C. |title=General Parasitology |year=1973 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-170750-7 |pages=120–134|quote=The 19th century might be thought of as the genesis of modern parasitology.}}</ref> the term was first used in 1870.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Parasitology|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parasitology|dictionary=Merriam-Webster|access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref> In 1828, James Annersley described [[amoebiasis]], protozoal infections of the intestines and the liver, though the pathogen, ''[[Entamoeba histolytica]]'', was not discovered until 1873 by Friedrich Lösch. [[James Paget]] discovered the intestinal nematode ''[[Trichinella spiralis]]'' in humans in 1835. James McConnell described the human liver fluke, ''[[Clonorchis sinensis]]'', in 1875.<ref name=Cox2004/> [[Algernon Thomas]] and [[Rudolf Leuckart]] independently made the first discovery of the life cycle of a trematode, the sheep liver fluke, by experiment in 1881–1883.<ref name=ChengHistory/> In 1877 [[Patrick Manson]] discovered the life cycle of the [[filarioidea|filarial worms]]<!--no comma, please!--> that cause [[lymphatic filariasis|elephantiasis]] transmitted by mosquitoes. Manson further predicted that the [[malaria]] parasite, ''[[Plasmodium]]'', had a mosquito vector, and persuaded [[Ronald Ross]] to investigate. Ross confirmed that the prediction was correct in 1897–1898. At the same time, [[Giovanni Battista Grassi]] and others described the malaria parasite's life cycle stages in ''[[Anopheles]]'' mosquitoes. Ross was [[Nobel Prize controversies#Physiology or medicine|controversially awarded the 1902 Nobel prize]] for his work, while Grassi was not.<ref name=Cox2004/> In 1903, [[David Bruce (microbiologist)|David Bruce]] identified the protozoan parasite and the [[tsetse fly]] vector of [[African trypanosomiasis]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ellis |first=Harold |author-link=Harold Ellis (surgeon) |title=Sir David Bruce, a pioneer of tropical medicine |journal=British Journal of Hospital Medicine |volume=67 |issue=3 |page=158 |date=March 2006 |pmid=16562450 |doi=10.12968/hmed.2006.67.3.20624}}</ref>

=== Vaccine ===

{{further|Malaria vaccine}}

Given the importance of malaria, with some 220&nbsp;million people infected annually, many attempts have been made to interrupt its transmission. Various methods of [[malaria prophylaxis]] have been tried including the use of [[antimalarial drug]]s to kill off the parasites in the blood, the eradication of its mosquito vectors with [[insecticide|organochlorine and other insecticides]], and the development of a [[malaria vaccine]]. All of these have proven problematic, with [[drug resistance]], [[insecticide resistance]] among mosquitoes, and repeated failure of vaccines as the parasite mutates.<ref>{{cite web |title=Malaria and Malaria Vaccine Candidates |url=https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/malaria-and-malaria-vaccine-candidates |publisher=The College of Physicians of Philadelphia |access-date=11 February 2018 |date=19 April 2017}}</ref> The first and as of 2015 the only licensed vaccine for any parasitic disease of humans is [[RTS,S]] for ''[[Plasmodium falciparum]]'' malaria.<ref name=BBC2015>{{cite news |last=Walsh |first=Fergus |author-link=Fergus Walsh |date=24 July 2015 |title=Malaria vaccine gets 'green light' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/health-33641939?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_news&ns_source=google_plus&ns_linkname=news_central |newspaper=[[BBC]] |access-date=25 July 2015}}</ref>

=== Biological control ===

{{further|Biological control}}

[[File:Encarsia formosa, an endoparasitic wasp, is used for whitefly control.jpg|thumb|''[[Encarsia formosa]]'', widely used in [[greenhouse]] horticulture, was one of the first biological control agents developed.<ref name="Hoddle 1998">{{cite journal |title=Biology and Use of the Whitefly Parasitoid Encarsia Formosa |author1=Hoddle, M. S. |author2=Van Driesche, R. G. |author3=Sanderson, J. P. |date=1998 |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=43 |pages=645–669 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.43.1.645 |pmid=15012401 }}</ref>]]

Several groups of parasites, including microbial pathogens and parasitoidal wasps have been used as [[biological control]] agents in [[agriculture]] and [[horticulture]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Parasitoid Wasps (Hymenoptera) |url=https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/insects/parasitoid-wasps-hymenoptera |publisher=University of Maryland |access-date=6 June 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827072031/https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/insects/parasitoid-wasps-hymenoptera |archive-date=27 August 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/134na5.pdf Encouraging innovation in biopesticide development.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515143828/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/134na5.pdf |date=15 May 2012}} European Commission (2008). Accessed on 9 January 2017</ref>

=== Resistance ===

{{further|Drug resistance}}

Poulin observes that the widespread [[prophylactic]] use of [[anthelmintic|anthelmintic drugs]] in domestic sheep and cattle constitutes a worldwide un[[controlled experiment]] in the life-history evolution of their parasites. The outcomes depend on whether the drugs decrease the chance of a helminth larva reaching adulthood. If so, natural selection can be expected to favour the production of eggs at an earlier age. If on the other hand the drugs mainly affects adult [[parasitic worm]]s, selection could cause delayed maturity and increased [[virulence]]. Such changes appear to be underway: the nematode ''[[Teladorsagia circumcincta]]'' is changing its adult size and [[fecundity|reproductive rate]] in response to drugs.{{sfn|Poulin|2007|pages=265–266}}