Advancements in Host-Parasite Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Parasitism involves an association between animals of different species in which the host is indispensable to the parasite. In other words, parasitism is a heterospecific type of association between two individuals in which one of the partners, called the parasite, is metabolically dependent on the other, and always harms the other, referred to as host. The relationship may be permanent, as in the case of tapeworms found in the intestines of mammals, or temporary, as during the feeding of mosquitoes, leeches, and ticks on a host’s blood.

In the host–parasite relationship, we can identify two categories of bio-physiological function. The first of these is parasite invasiveness, in which the parasite aims to obtain entry into the host and continue its life therein; second, host resistance tends to prevent the invasion of parasites and its colonization. In this relation, we can see that both these functions counter each other, thereby acting as a check to maintain balance in the host–parasite relationship. When a parasite is growing and multiplying within or on a host, the host is said to have an infection.

Dr. Víctor Hugo Del Río-Araiza
Dr. Jorge Morales-Montor
Dr. José Martín García-Varela
Guest Editors

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