------------------ On Parasitology and Parasitism: -----------------------

PARASITISM' is an ecological lifestyle wherein an organism gains it's needed energy and shelter from another, usually unrelated, species. "Parasitology" is the study of parasitism. At GCRL, we are concerned with 'ENDOPARASITES', and 'ECTOPARASITES', and the disease processes associated with these organisms.

The Victorian era mathematician Augustus De Morgan immortalized (for biologists) the phenomemon of parasitism, expanding on 17th century writer Jonathan Swift's lines in 'On Poetry: A Rhapsody' with this:

"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on."

[Even your] "human body is not the individual organism its proud owner may suppose, but rather a walking zoo of microbes and parasites, each exploiting a special ecological niche in its comfortable, temperature-controlled conveyance [with automatic nutrient delivery]. Some of these fellow travelers live so intimately with their hosts, biologists are finding, that they accompany them not just in space but also in time, passing from generation to generation for thousands of years."
By NICHOLAS WADE - Mar 2007