Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Balantidium coli is a parasitic species of ciliate alveolates that causes the disease balantidiasis. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is the only member of the ciliate phylum known to be pathogenic to humans. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Balantidium coli exists in either of two developmental stages: trophozoites and cysts. [3] In the trophozoite form, they can be oblong or spherical, and are typically 30 to 150 μm in length and 25 to 120 μm in width. [4] It is its size at this stage that allows Balantidium coli to be characterized as the largest protozoan parasite of humans. [3]
Balantidium coli observed in patients with dysentery was originally described as Paramecium coli by Malmstein in 1857. In 1858, Edouard Claparède and Johannes Lachmann created the genus Balantidium and reclassified B. entozoon as its type species. [3] Stein in 1863, reclassified Paramecium coli into the genus Balantidium.
Life cycle of Balantidium coli. The Malaria lifecycle is divided into two phases: Human: The infected female mosquito (usually Anopheles species) bites a human and injects sporozoites into the bloodstream during a bloodmeal. [8] The sporozoites travel to the liver where they invade liver cells (hepatocytes) in the Exo-erythrocytic Cycle. [9]
The Balantidium coli species has a worldwide distribution, but is more frequent in subtropical and temperate climates. The medical condition balantidiasis is particularly prevalent where poor hygiene and undernourishment weaken a population coincide with living in close contact with pigs, the main reservoir for the species.
The only member of the ciliate phylum known to be pathogenic to humans is Balantidium coli, [36] which causes the disease balantidiasis. It is not pathogenic to the domestic pig, the primary reservoir of this pathogen. [37]
These include the species Balantidium coli, which is the only ciliate parasitic in humans. The group Rhynchostomatia includes two free-living orders previously included among the Haptoria, but now known to be genetically distinct from them, the Dileptida and the Tracheliida. [2] [3]
Balantidium coli (Balantidiasis) is an example of a member of the phylum Ciliophora. Balantidiasis is the only ciliate known to be capable of infecting humans, and swine are the primary reservoir host. [27] Balantidiasis is opportunistic and rare in Western countries. [28]