BALANTIDIASIS SYMPTOMS |
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Balantidiasis is transmitted primarily
by eating food or drinking water that has been contaminated by human
or animal feces containing B. coli cysts. During its life cycle,
this organism exists in two very different forms: the infective cyst
or capsuled form, which cannot move but can survive outside the
human body because of its thick, protective covering; and the
disease-producing form, the trophozoite, which although capable of
moving, cannot survive once excreted in the feces and, therefore,
cannot infect others. In the digestive tract, the cysts are
transported to the intestine where the walls of the cysts are broken
open by digestive secretions, releasing the mobile trophozoites.
Once released within the intestine, the trophozoites multiply by
feeding on intestinal bacteria or by invading the lining of the
large intestine. Within the lining of the large intestine, the
trophozoites secrete a substance that destroys intestinal tissue and
creates sores (ulcers) or abscesses. Trophozoites eventually form
new cysts that are carried through the digestive tract and excreted
in the feces. Under favorable temperature and humidity conditions,
the cysts can survive in soil or water for weeks to months, ready to
begin the cycle again.
Most individuals with balantidiasis have no noticeable symptoms.
Even though these individuals may not feel ill, they are still
capable of infecting others by person-to-person contact or by
contaminating food or water with cysts that others may ingest, for
example, by preparing food with unwashed hands.
The most common symptoms of balantidiasis are chronic diarrhea or
severe colitis with abdominal cramps, pain, and bloody stools.
Complications may include intestinal perforation in which the
intestinal wall becomes torn, but the organisms do not spread to
other parts of the body in the blood stream. |
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| BALANTIDIASIS RELATED ITEMS |
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