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Encyclopedia of Parasitology pp 1–4Cite as

Blastocrithidia triatomae

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Name

Greek: blastos = germ; Latin: triatoma = genus name of raptor bugs.

Life Cycle

This species belongs to the flagellates and lives in the intestine of raptor bugs (e.g., Triatoma infestans), which are the vectors of the agents of the Chagas disease ( Trypanosoma cruzi ). The life cycle of B. triatomae is diagrammatically depicted in Fig. 1. This life cycle contains cyst stages besides amastigotes ( micromastigotes), promastigotes, and epimastigotes. The latter are characteristic for the trypanosomatid genus Crithidia, which contains members of parasites of insects. This species is able to form cysts, which enable these stages to survive outside their hosts. For human medicine, it is important that exclusively Blastocystis free bugs must be used for xenodiagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infections. Otherwise wrong positive results would be obtained.

Fig. 1
figure 1

B. triatomae. Life cycle of Blastocrithidia triatomae inside its host (the reduviid bug Triatoma infestans , which may be a vector...

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Further Reading

  • Haberkorn A (1976) Beobachtungen zu Blastocystis triatomae und Triatoma infestans. In: Proceedings DGP, Berchtesgaden

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  • Mehlhorn H et al (1979) Electron microscopic studies on Blastocrithidia triatomae. Tropenmed Parasitol 30:289–300

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Zoomorphologie, Zellbiologie und Parasitologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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  1. Heinz Mehlhorn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heinz Mehlhorn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoomorphology and Parasitology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Mehlhorn, H. (2016). Blastocrithidia triatomae . In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_415-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_415-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27769-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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