Importance of Flatworms

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

In the animal kingdom there are all kinds of life forms and survival mechanisms, among which we can highlight parasitism as a way that, certainly, does not end up being anything beneficial for the species that serve as hosts of those who feed through they. One of the most important groups of parasitic animals in this sense is that of flatworms, more specifically the classes of flukes, monogeneous and the cestodes, characterized for being invertebrate animals, with bodies vermi forms flattened, which parasitize various organs of vertebrates, while turbellarians, the class to which planarians belong, are mostly free-living and not parasites.

cycles and niches

Parasitic flatworm species have life cycles with very different forms of development in terms of the environment. There are some with a direct form of development, where a single host serves as a habitat, while others They require two or more hosts to complete their entire cycle from an egg to a flatworm. adult.

The larval phases and the forms of asexual reproduction of flatworms, mostly develop using some invertebrate, while the adult forms are all destined to parasitize vertebrates.

Eggs and larvae can be found in any place where they may have been as a result of the depositions of their hosts. parasites, causing flatworms to be present in almost all types of niches and biomes, so the knowledge and study of the various species of these parasites, has been a priority for the area of ​​health for decades, due to the high risk they represent for the life of the other species.

helminthiasis: symptoms and consequences

The parasitism produced by flatworms and nematodes - another group of worms - is known as helminthiasis and this can vary in characteristics, symptoms and consequences, according to the species of parasite that is present in the organism and according to the organs that can be affected, so speaking of a single specific symptomatology in which all flatworms are included is a fact impossible.

Each species generates a certain impact and only through the corresponding clinical analyzes can some species be evidenced, such as in the case of Schistosoma mansoni, which travels through the bloodstream and is responsible for Bilharziasis, while others, such as Taenias, become more than obvious to the naked eye, when they reach generate a great distension in the belly of a host that has been parasitized for a long time and accumulates a large number of these worms inside its digestive tract.

The definitive host, if it does not receive adequate treatment on time, can see its life seriously compromised as a result of these parasites, which daily cause the death of a large number of vertebrates, certainly contributing to the natural balance of species, but in turn considerably affecting human development and, especially, communities with fewer resources throughout the world. world.

Control and elimination of parasites

The importance of flatworms also has both ecological and economic repercussions today, due to the serious health effects that generate, not only for humans, but for the other animals with whom we maintain close dynamics, such as 1) the pets with which we share; 2) raising various species on farms to obtain protein and 3) wild animals that are also hunted for food.

The control and the constant application of measures for the elimination of parasites in our own bodies, as well as in others animals, become more than necessary, as well as the maintenance of adequate hygiene measures with which to reduce as much as possible exposure to flatworms, in order to minimize the consequences of infestations by these parasites that threaten the health.

There are several drugs that allow an effective elimination of a large number of flatworms, however, there are species that due to their physiological conditions have mechanisms of greater resistance to drugs, so not all types of antiparasitics are used for all types of parasites, making a bioanalysis study often necessary to diagnose correctly the species (s) of parasite and thus supply the corresponding medication for the purpose of an assertive treatment that allows to free the person or animal from its undesirable hosts.

References

Salvat Library (1973). The evolution of the spices. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Salvat Editors.

Drago, f. b. Diversity and biology.

Hickman, C. et al. (1998) Integral Principles of Zoology. 11th Ed. Madrid, Spain. McGraw-Hill Interamericana.

Radio, S. (2015). Identification and characterization of a new family of transposable elements in flatworms. University of the Republic. Uruguay.