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How Do Parasites Eat?

Parasites are living organisms that exist by living off of other organisms known as hosts. A parasite can attach itself to a host and live and reproduce, all while remaining unnoticed. Hosts, often unknowingly, supply parasites with everything they need to survive.There are three types of parasites: protozoa, helminths and ectoparasites. Each type of parasite attaches to and feeds on its host in a slightly different way from the others.

  1. Transfer of Parasites

    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that parasites can be picked up through contact with infected drinking and recreational water, animals and foods. These little invaders live mainly in tropical and subtropical climates which are conducive to their finding food and being able to multiply, though the ease of travel and transportation of goods makes everyone vulnerable to parasitic invasions. Ectoparasites like fleas and ticks can exist without a host for long periods of time and are transmitted by jumping or crawling onto the host.

    Food supply

    • There are three forms of food supply for parasites, all forms of which come from their host. To sustain their own lives parasites can feed off of the food their host consumes, off of the host's energy supply and even off of the host's cells.

    Protozoa

    • Protozoa parasites attach to the intestinal tract or body tissues of a host organism and feed by absorbing nutrients from the host. This type of parasite is passed from host to host through contamination of food.

    Helminth

    • Helminth parasites are worm-like in form and are found in the tissue, blood stream and intestines of their host but can also live independently in their environment. After attaching to a host, helmiinth parasites feed on pieces of cells, blood and tissue fluids produced by the host passing the food through an intestinal tract that dead-ends and allows the food to be digested and absorbed by the parasite. Some non-free living forms such as tapeworms have no digestive tract and absorb their food by hooking or sucking onto their host's intestines and taking in food that the host has already digested.

    Ectoparasites

    • Ectoparasites such as fleas and ticks live on the outside of their host and obtain their food supply by biting the host and absorbing nutrients from the blood drawn from the host organism. Blood withdrawl is typically done through the use of stingers.

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