Trichuris Trichiura - Life Cycle

Life Cycle

The female T. trichiura produces 2,000–10,000 single-celled eggs per day. Eggs are deposited from human feces to soil where, after two to three weeks, they become embryonated and enter the “infective” stage. These embryonated infective eggs are ingested and hatch in the human small intestine exploiting the intestinal microflora as hatching stimulus. This is the location of growth and molting. The infective larvae penetrate the villi and continue to develop in the small intestine. The young worms move to the cecum and penetrate the mucosa and there they complete development to adult worms in the large intestine. The life cycle from time of ingestion of eggs to development of mature worms takes approximately three months. During this time, there may be limited signs of infection in stool samples due to lack of egg production and shedding. The female T. trichiura begin to lay eggs after three months of maturity. Worms can live up to five years, during which time females can lay up to 20,000 eggs per day.

Recent studies using genome-wide scan revealed two quantitative trait loci on chromosome 9 and chromosome 18 may be responsible for genetic predisposition or susceptibility to infection of T. trichiura by some individuals.

Read more about this topic:  Trichuris Trichiura

Famous quotes containing the words life and/or cycle:

    In European thought in general, as contrasted with American, vigor, life and originality have a kind of easy, professional utterance. American—on the other hand, is expressed in an eager amateurish way. A European gives a sense of scope, of survey, of consideration. An American is strained, sensational. One is artistic gold; the other is bullion.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    The lifelong process of caregiving, is the ultimate link between caregivers of all ages. You and I are not just in a phase we will outgrow. This is life—birth, death, and everything in between.... The care continuum is the cycle of life turning full circle in each of our lives. And what we learn when we spoon-feed our babies will echo in our ears as we feed our parents. The point is not to be done. The point is to be ready to do again.
    Paula C. Lowe (20th century)