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At the recent 222nd inaugural lecture of the University of Benin, a Professor of Parasitology, Evelyn Uwa Edosomwan x-rays the predisposing factors responsible for parasitic diseases and advocates public health education as panacea to reduce invasion of parasites and their transmission to new hosts
The topic was attention-arresting and one that united both town and gown – Invasion of Territories without Limits: Parasites and their Hosts. It was the 222nd inaugural lecture of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State delivered recently by Evelyn Uwa Edosomwan, a professor of parasitology. Edosomwan, who presented her lecture before a quality audience comprising the academic community led by the vice chancellor of the university, Osasere Faraday Orumwense, professor of mechanical engineering, as well as family, friends and special invitees, was the first female parasitologist in the department of animal and environmental biology to deliver an inaugural lecture. Succinctly capturing the import of the subject matter, Edosomwan described it as apt, “especially with the invasion of the Nigerian nation by “human parasites”.
This may be in a lighter mood but the essence was to drive home the point of the ravaging and devastating effects of parasites on the health of both humans and animals. The word ‘parasite’, according to her, comes from the Greek word ‘parasitos’ which literally means ‘situated beside food’ and was the original term used for ‘hangers-on’ or people who ate at other people’s tables. Parasites, she stated, reduce the host’s fitness by increasing their own fitness by exploiting the hosts for resources necessary for the host’s survival, in particular by feeding on them and by using intermediate (secondary) hosts to assist in their transmission from one definitive (primary) host to another. She said though parasites are small creatures, most of them invisible to the naked eyes, their activities cause infectious diseases in man, animals and plants. Parasites, Edosomwan explained, are either plants or animals adding that “of course, we have human parasites. They may be found in all living organisms. They are found in cells, tissues, organs as well as body surface. Parasites invade our bodies where they cause diseases through adverse biochemical processes and reduce our levels of socio-cultural and economic wellbeing”. Likening parasites to “terrorists” she said they “maim, kill, and have in history caused migration of people from their natural homes to other places as refugees”. Identifying protozoa, helminthes, arthropods and mollusks as four groups of animals which are of major importance as parasites, Edosomwan said these serve as agents and vectors of human and animal diseases. She noted that parasite transmission, in many instances, depends largely on the habits, feeding and mating behaviours of the host.
