Parasitic diseases >>>> Balantidiasis
Balantidiasis.
Balantidiasis relates to protozoal infections caused by protozoa, in this case a unicellular organism infusoria Balantidium coli. The carriers of the infection are pigs, from which a person is infected by the fecal - oral route. Disease balantidiasis can be acute, in chronic form with relapses or in the form of a carrier. The carriers of the ciliates Balantidium coli are people living in rural areas who work on pig farms or have pigs in their household. Asymptomatic carriage makes it difficult to identify the pathogen, which can lead to a high degree of infection in the rural population (about 5%).
The causative agent of balantidiasis enters the gastrointestinal tract, causing ulceration of the intestinal walls, perforation and, as a complication, peritonitis, which can be fatal if medical care is not provided in a timely manner.
The incubation period for balantidiasis is on average about 15 days, but it can reach 30 days. It complicates the diagnosis of the similarity of the balantidiasis signs with the symptoms of colitis (enterocolitis): pain in the intestine (abdomen), intestinal cramps, false urge to defecate (tenesmus), diarrhea, increased gas production, the inclusion of mucus and blood in the feces. Feeling the abdomen causes pain. Against the background of an intestinal disorder, the general state of human health changes: chills, weakness, nausea, headache, dry mouth, coated tongue, fever appear. Lack of appetite leads to a sharp weight loss of a person, the development of cachexia.
Diagnosis of balantidiasis is carried out on the basis of laboratory tests of feces for the presence of a parasite. Differential diagnosis of the disease is carried out with dysentery, giardiasis, ulcerative colitis, dysbiosis, cryptosporidiosis.
Balantidiasis treatment carried antibiotics (monomitsin, ampicillin, oxytetracycline), and antiparasitic drugs (metronidazole, tinidazole).
Read
Read