VPA 211: General Veterinary Parasitology and Helminthology (3+1)

VECTOR

• A Vector is a latin word which means bearer. In the broad sense any agent that carries infectious organisms between animals. A vector is an arthropod that carries the parasite between two vertebrate hosts. E.g. Ticks and mosquitoes for various blood protozoans.
• Vector may be divided into mechanical vector and cyclical vector.
• A mechanical vector is an arthropod that carries the infectious agent from, one vertebrate host to another without any development in its body. E.g. Tabanus transmitting T.evansi by interrupted feeding or house flies transmitting cysts of Entamoeba histolytica while a cyclical vector is a vector in which the parasite undergoes development/multiplication before being transmitted to the next host (Ticks transmitting haemoprotozoan parasites)

   

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