Image of a Libellula pulchella dragonfly by D. Gordon E. Robertson via Wikimedia Commons 

Dr. Rudolf Schilder (Penn State University) presented a poster yesterday reporting that male dragonflies (Libellula pulchella) are developing infection-induced metabolic disease that is similar to type 2 diabetes and obesity in vertebrates. The culprit? A protozoan parasite in the animal’s gut.

It makes you wonder if parasites may be to blame for some metabolic disease cases in humans…

• How Animals Deal with Stress
• Hypoxia and anoxia and reoxygenation, Oh my!

Categories: Illnesses and Injuries, Nature's Solutions, Physiology on the Road

Tags: American Physiological Society, dragonfly, gut, metabolic disease, metabolism, parasite

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