Host Defenses
Hosts respond to parasitisms in many ways ranging from the morphological to the behavioural. In some cases, plants produce toxins to deter parasitic fungi and bacteria. Vertebrate animals have developed complex immune systems, which can target parasites through contact with bodily fluids. Animals are also known to resort to behavioral defenses, examples of which are the avoidance by sheep of open pastures during spring, when roundworm eggs accumulated over the previous year hatch en masse; and the ingestion of alcohol by infected fruit flies as self medication against blood-borne parasites. In humans, parasite immunity is developed prominently by Immunoglobulin E antibodies.
Read more about this topic: Parasitism
Famous quotes containing the words host and/or defenses:
“Carlyle’s works, it is true, have not the stereotyped success which we call classic. They are a rich but inexpensive entertainment, at which we are not concerned lest the host has strained or impoverished himself to feed his guests. It is not the most lasting word, nor the loftiest wisdom, but rather the word which comes last.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We are a nation of politicians, concerned about the outmost defenses only of freedom. It is our children’s children who may perchance be really free.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)