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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.
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.
Entamoeba coli is a non-pathogenic species of Entamoeba that frequently exists as a commensal parasite in the human gastrointestinal tract. E. coli (not to be confused with the bacterium Escherichia coli) is important in medicine because it can be confused during microscopic examination of stained stool specimens with the pathogenic Entamoeba histolytica. [1]
A colicin is a type of bacteriocin produced by and toxic to some strains of Escherichia coli. [1] Colicins are released into the environment to reduce competition from other bacterial strains.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a type of Escherichia coli and one of the leading bacterial causes of diarrhea in the developing world, [1] as well as the most common cause of travelers' diarrhea. [2] Insufficient data exists, but conservative estimates suggest that each year, about 157,000 deaths occur, mostly in children, from ETEC.
Vorticella was first described by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in a letter dated October 9, 1676. Leeuwenhoek thought that Vorticella had two horns moving like horse ears near the oral part, which turned out to be oral cilia beating to create water flow. [4]