Paragonimus westermani

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Taxonomic Classification
Paragonimus westermani (P. westermani) is part of the phylum Platyhelminthes. Platyhelminthes are flatworms, and are characterized by being acoelomate, triploblastic, and having a simple bilateral symmetry (Berkley.edu). The P. westermani is a member of the Trematoda class. Trematodas are flukes (parasite flatworms) that live inside vertebrates as their primary hosts and inside mollusks as intermediate hosts (wikipedia.org-trematoda). The parasite’s order is Plagiochiformes and suborder is Plagiochiata. The family of the P. westermani is Troglotrematidae. Organisms in this family are oval-shaped, thick flukes whose teguments are covered in spines. Paragonimus, its genus, usually describes parasites of carnivorous mammals; however, this is not always accurate. Although there are 48 species in the Paragonimus genus, westermani is the most prevalent worldwide (Roberts 277).
Host Spectrum
In accordance with its class, the P. westermani has vertebrates as its definitive hosts and mollusks as its intermediate host. The definitive hosts are usually mammals that ea...

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