Term to replace the older term, “trypanosome stage,” which was often confused with the flagellate genus Trypanosoma. It denotes the stage (infective stage for South American trypanosomiasis and African trypanosomiasis, and the only stage found in humans in the latter illness) in which the flagellum arises from a posteriorly located kinetoplast and emerges from the side of the body, with an undulating membrane running along the length of the body. [G. trypanon, auger, + mastix, whip]
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trypo·mas·ti·gote .trip-ə-'mas-ti-.gōt n any flagellate of the family Trypanosomatidae that has the typical form of a mature blood trypanosome
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try·po·mas·ti·gote (tri″po-masґtĭ-gōt) [Gr. trypanon borer + mastix whip] a morphologic stage in the life cycle of certain trypanosomatid protozoa; the slender elongate cell has a kinetoplast and basal body at the posterior end and a flagellum running anteriorly along an undulating membrane to become a free-flowing structure. Cf. amastigote, choanomastigote, epimastigote, opisthomastigote, and promastigote.Medical dictionary. 2011.