Anti-protist

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Anti-protist or antiprotistal refers to an anti-parasitic and anti-infective agent which is active against protists. Unfortunately due to the long ingrained usage of the term antiprotozoal, the two terms are confused, when in fact protists are a supercategory. Therefore, there are protists that are not protozoans. [1] [2] Beyond "animal-like" (heterotrophic, including parasitic) protozoans, protists also include the "plant-like" (autotrophic) protophyta and the "fungi-like" saprophytic molds. In current biology, the concept of a "protist" and its three subdivisions has been replaced. [3]

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A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nutrition</span> Provision to cells and organisms to support life

Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient nutrients causes malnutrition. Nutritional science is the study of nutrition, though it typically emphasizes human nutrition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parasitism</span> Relationship between species where one organism lives on or in another organism, causing it harm

Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson characterised parasites as "predators that eat prey in units of less than one". Parasites include single-celled protozoans such as the agents of malaria, sleeping sickness, and amoebic dysentery; animals such as hookworms, lice, mosquitoes, and vampire bats; fungi such as honey fungus and the agents of ringworm; and plants such as mistletoe, dodder, and the broomrapes.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heterotroph</span> Organism that ingests organic carbon for nutrition

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parasitic disease</span> Medical condition

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protist</span> Eukaryotes other than animals, plants or fungi

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fungus</span> Biological kingdom, separate from plants and animals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protozoa</span> Single-celled eukaryotic organisms that feed on organic matter

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The siege of Caffa was a siege of the Genoese port town of Caffa by a large Crimean Tatar army under the Golden Horde, led by their Khan Jani Beg. The Mongol army threw the bodies of Mongol warriors who had died of plague over the walls of the besieged city, which is considered one of the earliest examples of biological warfare. On the basis of Gabriel de Mussis' writings, the Black Death is widely believed to have reached Europe from the Crimea as the result of the biological warfare attacks during the siege.

References

  1. Jeffrey C. Pommerville (2014). Fundamentals of Microbiology. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. pp. 824–. ISBN   978-1-4496-4796-4.
  2. Jeffrey C. Pommerville; I. Edward Alcamo (15 January 2012). Alcamo's Fundamentals of Microbiology: Body systems edition. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. pp. 848–. ISBN   978-1-4496-0594-0.
  3. Scamardella JM (1999). "Not plants or animals: A brief history of the origin of Kingdoms Protozoa, Protista, and Protoctista" (PDF). International Microbiology. 2 (4): 207–221. PMID   10943416. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2021-10-19.