HWN Suggests

Friday Fellow: B. coli

It’s time to give more space for parasites, including human parasites…

The most affected country nowadays are the Philippines, but you may get infected anywhere. The best way to reduce the infection risks is by having good sanitary conditions and personal hygiene. However, as pigs are the most common vectors of the disease, it will likely continue to exist as long as humans raise pigs.

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Articles of Interest

Balantidiasis - Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention

Balantidium coli is the largest and only protozoan, having cilia or hair-like structures capable of causing disease in humans. These parasites are primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water through the fecal-oral route. Balantidium coli infections often present with no symptoms, but people with other serious illnesses can have persistent diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Resources

Canada.ca

Balantidium coli is the largest and the only ciliated protozoan parasite of humans. B. coli is a member of the class Ciliata, order Trichomonatida and family Balantidiidae. The life cycle of B. coli consists of two stages: a ciliated trophozoite and an environmentally resistant cyst. Cysts are the infectious stage.

CDC

Balantidium (=Neobalantidium) (=Balantioides) coli, a large ciliated protozoan, is the only ciliate known to be capable of infecting humans. It is often associated with swine, the primary reservoir host.

NORD

Balantidiasis is a rare intestinal infection caused by the bacterium, Balantidium coli, a single celled parasite (ciliate protozoan) that frequently infects pigs but on occasion (rarely) infects humans.

Parasitolgy Blog

This parasite is kept in the pig's intestines and its feces are the source of infection for humans, but it can also be transmitted by eating undercooked pig meat.

VisualDx

Humans get the infection by ingesting cysts, usually from contaminated water sources or less commonly from contaminated food. Human-to-human transmission has been anecdotally reported, but it is possible in the setting of asylums, orphanages, mental health institutions, and prisons where poor hygiene may spread the infection easily.