Balantidium Coli

Balantidium Coli General Information

Balantidium Coli Symptoms

The most common way of getting infected with Balantidium Coli is by the feces of the infected hosts where the parasite is released. People are infected by a fecal-oral route, because they often ingest food or water that is contaminated by the feces that contain the protozoa. If a person lives in sites where the water supply is poor and contaminated from the excrements of the infected animals, interacts with pigs, fertilizers that are contaminated with the big feces, he or she may be more predisposed than others to get infected with this protozoa. There are also some factors that contribute to getting more easily infected, such as: achlorhydria, poor nutrition or immunosuppression. The patients are very often asymptomatic, but this does not mean that the parasite will not attack the organism. Balantidium Coli invade the large intestine provoking abdominal pain, mild forms of colitis, diarrhea or diarrhea with blood (dysentery). The diarrhea can sometimes be a watery mucoid and may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. These lead to headaches, anorexia or weight loss, and a more severe and marked loss of fluids. But the infection with this parasite can easily be avoided if you practice hand washing, with a proper waste disposal, water treatment or separating human from swine habitats. As physical symptoms, abdominal tenderness or mild dehydration resulting from prolonged diarrhea are noticed. These protozoa usually invade the colon and cecum and all the mucosa of the large intestine, leading to ulcerations. The intestine tissues are degraded by hyaluronidase enzyme that helps penetrating the mucosa of the large intestine.

Balantidium Coli Treatment

Balantidium Coli is not a common disease and can be easily recognized by the symptoms listed above and by the presence of the causes that normally lead to such infections. If you suspect you have Balantidium Coli, call soon your physician and establish a date for the consultation. A microscopic examination of the patient’s feces will help the specialist determine exactly the presence of this disease. Both trophozoites and cysts can be detected in the feces after the stool sample is collected and a wet amount is done. But a definitive and more precise diagnoses is put only after the stool samples are collected many times and examined immediately after they have been collected. There can be another series of tests if the diagnoses is not certain because this disease is usually asymptomatic in many patients or with very few symptoms. For example, in samples of the tissue from the large intestine trophozoites can be found. The collection of samples from the large intestine is done with a sigmoidoscopy procedure. The diarrhea can be observed by any physician if he or she inspects the large intestine, specifically the sigmoid colon and the rectum (in its last section).

The symptoms may be similar to those of any other diseases caused by other protozoa, for example amebiasis so that is necessary to identify the exact organism responsible for the infection to proceed with the adequate treatment. Against Balantidium Coli the more common types of drugs are the antibiotics, administrated orally, and the most used are: iodoquinol, tetracycline, and metronidazole. The most prescribed antibiotic by every doctor is tetracycline, given four times a day, for twelve days; the dose needed is 500 mg. This drug is not recommended for children who are younger than 7 years old and for pregnant women. Next in the order of efficiency is metronidazole, given three times a day, for 6 days; the dose needed is 750 mg. The last, but not the least is iodoquinol, given three times a day, for 15 days and the dose recommended is 640 mg. In most cases, the patients responded well at any of these three drugs. If a patient is asymptomatic, he must continue the treatment even after he starts feeling better in order to avoid the transmission of Balantidium Coli. But there are some patients that do not need a treatment because their infection clears spontaneously, in time. Never leave a disease untreated because complications could develop. For example, if you do not treat Balantidium Coli on time, the persistent diarrhea can cause severe dehydration because of the high fluid loss. The complications usually appear with great intensity and very sudden, taking you by surprise. One day you feel fine and the next day you are almost dieing. There can also appear death if abdominal bleeding shows when the dysentery is caused by severe hemorrhaging. Before the death, the patient enters in shock. The death rate is worrying; more than 25% of the cases that are left untreated end by death.