Apicomplexia

Apicomplexia

  • Glilding motility, asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction

  • Intestine (small): cryptosporidium spp., Isospora belli, Cyclospora

  • Blood, RBC: plasmodium spp.

  • Tissue (brain, muscle): toxoplasma gondii


  • Obligate intracellular protozoa: (cannot reproduce outside their host cell, therefore production entirely reliant on intracellular resources)

  • Apicomplexans (sporozoans):

  • Plasmodium spp, Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium pavum, Babesia

Infectious stages:

  • Sporozoite (sporos, seed + zoon, animal): cell form that infects new hosts. Motile and move by gliding

  • Merozoite (meros, part of a series + zoon, animal): result of asexual reproduction (merogony) that takes place in the host cell. Merozoites are motile.

  • Trophozoite (trophe, nourishment + zoon, animal): activated feeding stage in the life cycle of certain protozoa e.g. P. falciparum (intracellular)

  • Hypnozoite (hypnos, sleep + zoon, animal): quiescent parasite stage, known for latency and relapse e.g. P. ovale and vivax

  • Gametocyte (gametes, partner + kytos, cell): parasites gamete-forming cells (M/F)