Why is ecology important? Ecology enriches our world and is crucial for human wellbeing and prosperity. It provides new knowledge of the interdependence between people and nature that is vital for food production, maintaining clean air and water, and sustaining biodiversity in a changing climate.

Vocabulary

• commensalism. relationship between organisms where one organism benefits from the association while not harming the other.
• mutualism. relationship between organisms of different species, in which both organisms benefit from the association.
• parasitism.
• predator.
• prey.
• symbiosis.

All organisms are connected to each other in an ecosystem. Organisms form relationships with each other because they are connected. Some organisms compete against other organisms for resources or space. Other organisms depend on each other to survive. These relationships are called ecological relationships.

These interactions may have positive, negative or neutral effects on either species’ ability to survive and reproduce, or “fitness.” By classifying these effects, ecologists have derived five major types of species interactions: predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism and amensalism.

There are three different types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Answer. Answer: Mutualisms are crucial to the reproduction and survival of many plants and animals and to nutrient cycles in ecosystems. Sometimes a symbiotic relationship benefits both species, sometimes one species benefits at the other’s expense, and in other cases neither species benefits.

Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which both the organisms or species are harmed. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and territory) used by both can be a factor. Competition is one of many interacting biotic and abiotic factors that affect community structure.

Parasitism, relationship between two species of plants or animals in which one benefits at the expense of the other, sometimes without killing the host organism.

A parasitic relationship is one in which one organism, the parasite, lives off of another organism, the host, harming it and possibly causing death. The parasite lives on or in the body of the host. A few examples of parasites are tapeworms, fleas, and barnacles.

It will not kill their hosts because host organisms are capable of surviving on its own and provides energy source to the parasite. Generally, if the host cell dies then the parasite will also die. Hence, the parasite will not kill the host cells.

There are three main classes of parasites that can cause disease in humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites.

The signs of a parasite are often caused by the toxins that it releases into the human bloodstream. Here are the most common symptoms: Unexplained constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea or other symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. You traveled internationally and got diarrhea on your trip.

Sometimes the worms are visible in the anal area, underwear, or in the toilet. In stools, the worms look like small pieces of white cotton thread. Because of their size and white color, pinworms are difficult to see. The male worm is rarely seen because it remains inside the intestine.

These studies indicate that probiotics might indeed provide a strain-specific protection against parasites, probably through multiple mechanisms.

Sometimes you don’t need to do anything about a tapeworm. It could leave your body on its own. But if your doctor finds it, they can prescribe a medicine like praziquantel or nitazoxanide. These will either kill the adult worms or cause you to poop them out.

However, hygiene measures alone may work. The worms die after about six weeks. Provided that you do not swallow any new eggs, no new worms will grow to replace them. So, if you continue the hygiene measures described above for six weeks, this should break the cycle of re-infection, and clear your gut of threadworms.

Mebendazole is a type of medicine for treating worms. It is used mainly for infections of the gut such as threadworms (sometimes known as pinworms) and other less common worm infections (whipworm, roundworm and hookworm). You can buy mebendazole from a pharmacy. It’s also available on prescription.

Threadworms (pinworms) are tiny worms in your poo. They’re common in children and spread easily. You can treat them without seeing a GP.

Accidentally swallowing or breathing in pinworm eggs causes a pinworm infection. The tiny (microscopic) eggs can be carried to your mouth by contaminated food, drink or your fingers. Once swallowed, the eggs hatch in the intestines and mature into adult worms within a few weeks.

In rare circumstances 4 to 6 treatments may be neces- sary to get rid of the infection. Vaseline™ and other over the counter creams or ointments can help relieve the itching caused by pinworms when applied to the perianal area.

Common symptoms of intestinal worms are:

• abdominal pain.
• diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting.
• gas/bloating.
• fatigue.
• unexplained weight loss.
• abdominal pain or tenderness.

Stomach/abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, or drowsiness may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.

When should I give mebendazole?

• Once: this can be at any time of day.
• Twice a day: this should be once in the morning and once in the evening. Ideally, these times are 10–12 hours apart, for example some time between 7am and 8 am, and between 7pm and 8 pm.

Mebendazole

Clinical data
Protein binding	95%
Metabolism	Extensive liver
Elimination half-life	3–6 hours
Excretion	Feces, urine (5–10%)

Due to the poor tissue penetration of mebendazole and the current availability of albendazole in all countries, mebendazole should no longer be used for these indications.

Mebendazole works by preventing the threadworms absorbing sugar, which means they should die within a few days. This medication is 90-100% effective at killing the threadworms, but it doesn’t kill the eggs.

Many prospective and existing patients ask us about Fenbendazole, which is in the same family of drugs (the Benzimidazoles) as Mebendazole. While there is some interesting preliminary anticancer data associated with Fenbendazole, the drug is not licensed for use in humans.

Both agents were equally very effective (100% cure rate) in treating ascariasis. Albendazole was clearly more active than mebendazole against hookworm infections, both in terms of egg reduction rate (92.8% vs. 62.4%) and cure rate (81.8% vs. 17.2%).

Adults and children 2 years of age and older—100 milligrams (mg) two times a day, morning and evening, for 3 consecutive days. Treatment may need to be repeated in 3 weeks. Children younger than 2 years of age—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.