Diagnosis of Balantidiasis
Balantidiasis is an uncommon
infection. Symptoms, if present,
include diarrhea, dysentery, and abdominal pain (See Clinical Presentation). Balantidiasis should be considered if the patient
works closely with pigs or other livestock, lives in or has recently traveled
to a region with poor water sanitation, or has had contact with infected
persons.
Note: consult a physician
if you suspect you have Balantidiasis.
Balantidiasis is diagnosed by microscopic examination
of a patient’s feces. A stool sample is
collected and a wet mount is prepared. Cysts
or trophozoites can be detected in the feces.
Balantidium coli is passed periodically, therefore stool samples
should be collected frequently and examined immediately in order to make a
definitive diagnosis.
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Trophozoites can also be detected
in tissue. In order to collect a
tissue specimen from the large intestine, a sigmoidoscopy procedure is
used. A thin, hollow instrument
called a sigmoidoscope is used to visually inspect the last sections of the
large intestine: the rectum and the sigmoid colon. A physician can look for bleeding, ulcers, and inflammation in
order to diagnose the cause of diarrhea and other GI complaints, and can take
a tissue biopsy for inspection.
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Since the symptoms of Balantidiasis
are similar to those of amebiasis, it is
important to identify the correct protozoan responsible for the disease. Microscopic examination of the stool or
tissue sample and characterization of the organism according to Morphology are needed to make the correct
diagnosis. As noted before, Balantidium
coli is the largest protozoan and the only ciliate to parasitize
humans. These traits can be of help
when identifying organisms in samples from patients.
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