An Anopheles stephensi mosquito obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. Note the droplet of blood being expelled from the abdomen after having engorged itself on its host’s blood. This mosquito is a known malarial vector with a distribution that ranges from Egypt all the way to China.

Hematophagy is the habit of certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words, haima, blood, and phagein, eat). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious proteins and lipids and can be taken without enormous effort, hematophagy has evolved as a preferred form of feeding in many small animals, such as worms and arthropods. Some intestinal helminth worms, such as the Ascaris, feed on blood extracted from the capillaries of the gut and about 75% of all species of leeches (Hirudo medicinalis), a free-living worm, are hematophagous. Some fishes, such as lampreys, and mammals, especially the vampire bats, also practice hematophagy. Image File history File links An Anopheles stephensi mosquito is obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. ... Image File history File links An Anopheles stephensi mosquito is obtaining a blood meal from a human host through its pointed proboscis. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (parasitic to flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. ... Red blood cells (erythrocytes) are present in the blood and help carry oxygen to the rest of the cells in the body Blood is a circulating tissue composed of fluid plasma and cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets). ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... Figure 1: Structure of a Lipid. ... A worm is an elongated soft-bodied invertebrate animal. ... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - Trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - Spiders, Scorpions, etc. ... Parasitic worms are worms that are parasitic on animals, including humans. ... Species Ascaris lumbricoides Ascaris suum Ascaris is a genus of parasitic nematodes. ... Orders Arhynchobdellidaor Rhynchobdellida There is some dispute as to whether Hirudinea should be a class itself, or a subclass of the Clitellata. ... Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus: the most abundant species of fish in the world. ... Subfamilies Geotriinae Mordaciinae Petromyzontinae A lamprey is a jawless fish with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth, with which most species bore into the flesh of other fishes to suck their blood. ... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Genera Desmodus Diphylla Diaemus Vampire bats are bats that feed on blood (hematophagy). ...

Mechanism and evolution of hematophagy

These hematophagous animals have evolved different specialized mouth parts and chemical agents for penetrating vascular structures in the skin of hosts, mostly of mammals, birds and fishes. This type of feeding is known as phlebotomy (from the Greek words, phleps, vein, and tomos, cutting). Sagittal section of nose mouth, pharynx, and larynx. ... Diagram of the layers of human skin In zootomy and dermatology, skin is an organ of the integumentary system composed of a layer of tissues that protect underlying muscles and organs. ... Aves redirects here. ... Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus: the most abundant species of fish in the world. ... Bloodletting (or blood-letting, in modern medicine referred to as phlebotomy) was a popular medical practice from antiquity up to the late 19th century, involving the withdrawal of often considerable quantities of blood from a patient in the belief that this would cure or prevent illness and disease. ...

Once phlebotomy is performed (in most insects by a specialized fine hollow "needle" called proboscis which perforates skin and capillaries; in bats by sharp incisor teeth that act as a razor to cut the skin), blood is acquired either by sucking action directly from the vases, or from a pool of escaped blood, or by lapping (again, in bats). In order to overcome natural hemostasis (blood coagulation), vasoconstriction, inflammation and pain sensation in the host, biochemical solutions in the saliva for instance, for pre-injection, anesthesia and capillary dilation have evolved in different hematophagous species. In fact, new anticoagulant medicines have been developed on the basis of substances found in the saliva of several hematophagous species, such as leeches (hirudin). In general, a proboscis (from Greek pro before and baskein to feed) is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal. ... Capillaries are the smallest of a bodys blood vessels, measuring 5-10 μm. ... Types of teeth Molars are used for grinding up foods Carnassials are used for slicing food. ... Hemostasis refers to a process whereby bleeding is halted in most animals with a closed circulatory system. ... The blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. ... Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. ... Pain is an unpleasant sensation which may be associated with actual or potential tissue damage and which may have physical and emotional components. ... Contents of Saliva In animals, saliva is produced in and secreted from the salivary glands. ... For the song (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth by Metallica, go here. ... An anticoagulant is a substance that prevents coagulation; that is, it stops blood from clotting. ... Hirudin is a naturally ocurring peptide in the salivary glands of medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) that has a blood anticoagulant property. ...

Hematophagy can be classified into obligatory and optional. Obligatory hematophagous animals will not feed on any other things except blood, such as Rhodnius prolixus (an assassin bug from South America). Many mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti may also feed on pollen, fruit juice and other biological fluids, too. Sometimes, only the female of the species is a hematophage (this is essential for egg production and reproduction). Subfamilies Harpactorinae Peiratinae Tegeinae Triatominae etc. ... Genera See text. ... joyce This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomea purpurea), hollyhock (Sildalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of fruits. ... A human ovum An ovum (loosely, egg or egg cell) is a female sex cell or gamete. ...

Hematophagy has apparently evolved independently in many disparate arthropod, annelid, nematode and mammalian taxa. For example Diptera (insects with two wings, such as flies) have nine families with hematophagous habits (more than half of the 17 hematophagous arthropod taxa). Circa 14,000 species of arthropods are hematophagous, even some genres that were not previously thought to be, such as moths of the Calyptra genre. Several complementary biological adaptations for locating the hosts (usually in the dark, as most hematophagous species are nocturnal and silent, in order to avoid detection and destruction by the host) have also evolved, such as special physical or chemical detectors (for sweat components, CO₂, heat, light, movement, etc.). Classes and subclasses Class Polychaeta(paraphyletic?) Class Clitellata    Oligochaeta- Earthwormsand others    Acanthobdellida    Branchiobdellida    Hirudinea- Leeches Class Myzostomida Class Archiannelida(polyphyletic) Class Echiura The annelids, collectively called Annelida (from Latin annellus little ring), are a large phylum of animals, comprising the segmented worms, with about 15 000 modern species including the... Classes Adenophora    Subclass Enoplia    Subclass Chromadoria Secernentea    Subclass Rhabditia    Subclass Spiruria    Subclass Diplogasteria The roundworms (Phylum Nematoda) are one of the most common phyla of animals, with over 20,000 different described species. ... Suborders Archidiptera Eudiptera Brachycera // Overview Diptera are insects in which the hind wings are reduced to halteres. ... A Laughing Gull on the beach in Atlantic City. ... The Mediterranean fruit fly, or medfly, Ceratitis capitata Dance fly male Empis tesselata The flesh-fly, Sarcophaga carnaria As defined by entomologists, a fly (plural flies) is any species of insect of the order Diptera. ... A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly. ... In bryophytes, the calyptra is a cap of gametophyte tissue that protects the sporangium. ... The eye is an adaptation. ... A nocturnal animal is one that sleeps during the day and is active at night - the opposite of the human (diurnal) schedule. ... SWEAT is an OLN/TSN show hosted by Julie Zwillich that aired in 2003-2004. ... Carbon dioxide is an atmospheric gas comprised of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... A red-hot iron rod cooling after being worked by a blacksmith. ... Prism splitting light Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light) or, in a technical or scientific context, electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. ...

Medical importance

Medicinal leeches on the animal market in Istanbul

The phlebotomic action opens a channel for contamination of the host species with bacteria, viruses and blood-borne parasites contained in the hematophagous organism. Thus, many animal and human infectious diseases are transmitted by hematophagous species, such as the bubonic plague, Chagas disease, dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis, Lyme disease, malaria, rabies, sleeping sickness, St. Louis encephalitis, tularemia, typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, West Nile fever and many others. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 2151 KB) medicinal leeches (hirudo medicinalis, medicinale bloedzuiger) - sold for indications: eczema, varices and aphrodisiacum - animal market, Yeni Mosque, Istanbul - - own picture File links The following pages link to this file: Leech Hematophagy ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1920x2560, 2151 KB) medicinal leeches (hirudo medicinalis, medicinale bloedzuiger) - sold for indications: eczema, varices and aphrodisiacum - animal market, Yeni Mosque, Istanbul - - own picture File links The following pages link to this file: Leech Hematophagy ... The location of Istanbul Province Maiden Tower and Historical Peninsula of Istanbul Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul, Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Constantinople) is the largest city in Turkey, and arguably the most important. ... Subgroups Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... A common alternate meaning of virus is computer virus. ... For the rare minieral, see Parisite. ... In medicine, infectious disease or communicable disease is disease caused by a biological agent such as by a virus, bacterium or parasite. ... Der Doctor Schnabel von Rom (English: The Doctor Beak of Rome) engraving by Paul Fürst (after J Columbina). ... This article is about the tropical disease. ... Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis is an infectious tick-borne disease, caused by the Borrelia spirochete, a gram-negative microorganism. ... Red blood cell infected with Malaria, derived from mala aria (Italian: bad air) and formerly called ague or marsh fever in English, is an infectious disease which causes about 350-500 million infections with humans and approximately 1. ... Sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease in people and in animals. ... St. ... Tularemia (also known as rabbit fever) is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. ... This is about the disease Typhus. ... Binomial name Rickettsia rickettsii Wolbach, 1919 Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most severe and most frequently reported rickettsial illness in the United States, and has been diagnosed throughout the Americas. ... West Nile fever (West Nile encephalitis) a febrile illness caused by West Nile virus, that is transmitted from birds to the common Culex mosquito and then to people. ...

Among the hematophagous insects of medical importance are the sandfly, blackfly, tsetse fly, bedbug, assassin bug, mosquito, tick, louse, mite, midge, leech, chigger, and flea. Sandfly is the common name of a flying, biting, blood-sucking insect found in many countries. ... Blackfly was a Canadian sitcom which ran on the Global Television Network for two seasons. ... Binomial name Glossina morsitans The tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans, is a fly (order Diptera) that eats blood from animals, including humans. ... Genera & Species Genus Cimex Cimex lectularius Cimex hemipterus () Cimex pilosellus Cimex pipistrella Genus Leptocimex Leptocimex boueti Genus Haematosiphon Haematosiphon inodora Genus Oeciacus Oeciacus hirudinis Oeciacus vicarius Bedbugs (or bed bugs) are small nocturnal insects of the family Cimicidae that live by hematophagy, feeding on the blood of humans and other... Subfamilies Harpactorinae Peiratinae Tegeinae Triatominae etc. ... Genera See text. ... Families Ixodidae - Hard ticks Argasidae - Soft ticks Tick is the common name for the small arachnids that, along with mites, constitute the order Acarina. ... Suborders Anoplura (sucking lice) Rhyncophthirina Ischnocera (avian lice) Amblycera (chewing lice) Lice (singular: louse) (order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3000 species of wingless parasitic insects. ... Families Tetranychidae - Spider mites Eriophyidae - Gall mites Sarcoptidae - Sarcoptic Mange mites The mites and ticks, order Acarina or Acari, belong to the Arachnida and are among the most diverse and successful of all the invertebrate groups, although some way behind the insects. ... Midges on a Toyota Midges are certain small, spotted, two-winged flying insects. ... Orders Arhynchobdellidaor Rhynchobdellida There is some dispute as to whether Hirudinea should be a class itself, or a subclass of the Clitellata. ... The term chigger (or jigger) can refer to either of two distinct parasitic arthropods with similar behaviors: the chigoe flea (Tunga penetrans) the larva of the harvest mite (Trombicula alfreddugesi). ... Families Tungidae - Sticktight and Chigoe fleas (Chiggers) Pulicidae - Common fleas Coptopsyllidae Vermipsyllidae - Carnivore fleas Rhopalopsyllidae - Marsupial fleas Hypsophthalmidae Stephanocircidae Pygiopsyllidae Hystrichopsyllidae - Rat and mouse fleas Leptopsyllidae - Bird and rabbit fleas Ischnopsyllidae - Bat fleas Ceratophyllidae Amphipsyllidae Malacopsyllidae Dolichopsyllidae - Rodent fleas Ctenopsyllidae Flea is the common name for any of the small...

Recently, hematophagous organisms have been used by physicians for beneficial purposes (hirudotherapy). Some doctors now use leeches to prevent the clotting of blood on some wounds following surgery or trauma. The anticoagulants in the laboratory-raised leeches' saliva keeps fresh blood flowing to the site of an injury, actually preventing infection and increasing chances of full recovery. In a recent study, a genetically engineered drug called desmoteplase based on the saliva of Desmodus rotundus (the vampire bat) was shown to improve stroke patients Hirudotherapy is the scientific name for the use of leeches for medicinal purposes. ... Contents of Saliva In animals, saliva is produced in and secreted from the salivary glands. ... Desmoteplase is a chemical in the saliva of vampire bats. ... A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted. ...

Human hematophagy

Drinking blood and manufacturing foodstuffs and delicacies with animal blood is also a feeding behavior in many societies. African Masai mainstay food, for instance is cow blood mixed with milk. Blood sausage is eaten in many places around the world. Some societies, such as the Moche, had ritual hematophagy, as well as the Scythians, a nomadic people of Russia, who had the habit of drinking the blood of the first enemy they would kill in battle. Some religious rituals underline the importance of metaphorical hematophagy, such as in the representation of blood of Jesus Christ by wine during Catholic mass. Satanic sects in the West have been reported to drink human blood from willing donors and psychiatric cases of hematophagy as a symptom also exist. Sucking one's own blood from a wound is also a behaviour commonly seen in humans. Finally, real or imagined, human vampirism has been a persistent object of literary and media attention, and tales of blood-thirsty Count Vlad, the supposed inspiration of the Dracula character, continue to be told. Masai can refer to Maasai, also known as Masai, the name of an African ethnic group from Kenya and Tanzania Masai, Johor, a suburb of Johor Bahru city This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... A glass of cows milk Milk most often means the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ... Morcilla cocida: Spanish-style blood sausage Blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. ... Moche pottery (Image © PROMPERU, used with permission) The Moche civilization (aka the Mochica culture, Early Chimu, Pre-Chimu, Proto-Chimu, etc. ... Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the KulOba kurgan burial near Kerch. ... An act of war - the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, effectively ending World War II. The bombs over Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki immediately killed over 120,000 people. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of grapes and grape juice. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter it contains. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Further reading Christopher Frayling - Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula 1992. ... Portrait of Vlad III in the Innsbruck Ambras Castle Vlad III Dracula (November or December, 1431 – December 1476) was also known as Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, and as Vlad Ţepeş IPA: in Romanian). ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula; U.S. postage stamp first issued in 1997 as part of a series celebrating Famous Movie Monsters Dracula (1897) is a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, and the namesake of the worlds most famous vampire character. ...

See also

• Hirudotherapy
• Natural reservoir
• Tick-borne disease
• Transmission (medicine)
• Zoonosis
• Vampirism

Hirudotherapy is the scientific name for the use of leeches for medicinal purposes. ... Natural reservoir or nidus, refers to the long-term host of the pathogen of an infectious disease. ... Tick-borne diseases are diseases or illnesses transmitted by ticks. ... The microorganisms (bacteria and viruses) that cause disease may be transmitted from one person to another by one or more of the following means: droplet contact - coughing or sneezing on another person direct physical contact - touching an infected person indirect contact - usually by touching a contaminated surface airborne transmission - if... Zoonosis (pronounced as zoo-on-no-sis) is any infectious disease that may be transmitted from animals, both wild and domestic, to humans. ... Further reading Christopher Frayling - Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula 1992. ...

References

• Scharfetter C, Hagenbuchner K. Blutdurst als Symptom. Ein seltsamer Fall von Bluttrinken. Psychiatr Neurol (Basel). 1967;154(5):288-310.'
• Ciprandi, A; Horn, F; Termignoni, C. Saliva of hematophagous animals: source of new anticoagulants. Rev. Bras. Hematol. Hemoter., 2003, vol.25, no.4, p.250-262 PDF full text
• Markwardt F. Hirudin as alternative anticoagulant -- a historical review. Semin Thromb Hemost. 2002 Oct;28(5):405-14. Medline abstract
• Ribeiro JM. Blood-feeding arthropods: live syringes or invertebrate pharmacologists? Infect Agents Dis. 1995 Sep;4(3):143-52. Medline abstract

External links

• Galun, R. Evolution of Hematophagy
• Beaty, LC. Host-Seeking Behavior in Hematophagous Mosquitoes
• Biopharm. Company specialised in providing medicinal leeches.