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Balantidium coli lives in the cecum and colon of humans, pigs, rats, and other mammals. It is not readily transmissible from one species of host to another because it requires a period of time to adjust to the symbiotic flora of the new host. Once it has adapted to a host species, the protozoan can become a serious pathogen, especially in humans.
Balantidium is the only ciliated protozoan known to infect humans. Balantidiasis is a zoonotic disease and is acquired by humans via the fecal-oral route from the normal host, the pig, where it is asymptomatic. Fecally contaminated food and water are the common sources of infection in humans. [2]
Balantidium coli is one of the species that has been reclassified. It has also been proposed that it is a junior synonym of genus Balantioides–which has B. coli as the type species. [6] The closest known relative of this genus is Buxtonella sulcata, a parasite of cattle.
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]
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]
Balantidium coli: intestinal mucosa, may become invasive in some patients stool (diarrhea=ciliated trophozoite; solid stool=large cyst with horseshoe shaped nucleus) ingestion of cyst, zoonotic infection acquired from pigs (feces) Blastocystosis: Blastocystis spp. intestinal direct microscopy of stool (PCR, antibody)
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]