Blastocystis sp. is among the few enteric parasites with a prevalence that often exceeds 5% in the general population of industrialized countries and can reach 30-60% in developing countries. This parasite is frequently found in people who are immunocompromised (patients with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or cancer) and a higher risk of Blastocystis sp. infecti...

Blastocystis is the most common human enteric protist with controversial clinical significance. Metronidazole is considered a first-line treatment for Blastocystis infection; however, there has been increasing evidence for the lack of efficacy of this treatment. Treatment failure has been reported in several clinical cases, and recent in vitro studies have suggested the occurrence of metronidaz...

We tested 513 stool samples from patients in Sydney, Australia for Blastocystis by using five diagnostic techniques: microscopy of a permanently stained smear using a modified iron-hematoxylin stain, two xenic culture systems (a modified Boeck and Drbohlav's medium and tryptone, yeast extract, glucose, methionine-9 medium), and two published conventional polymerase chain reaction methods specif...

background: the aims of this study were to identify blastocystis subtypes (sts) in a cohort of turkish patients with various gastrointestinal symptoms using a novel real time pcr method developed recently for blastocystis detection and assess the relationship between blastocystis sts and patient symptoms. methods: totally, 617 stool samples of patients with gastrointestinal symptoms were examin...

Blastocystis infection has a worldwide distribution especially among the disadvantaged population and immunocompromised subjects. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence and the association of Blastocystis infection with the socio-economic characteristics among 300 primary schoolchildren, living in rural communities in Lipis and Raub districts of Pahang state, Malaysia. Stool sam...

The anaerobic lifestyle of the intestinal parasite Blastocystis raises questions about the biochemistry and function of its mitochondria-like organelles. We have characterized the Blastocystis succinyl-CoA synthetase (SCS), a tricarboxylic acid cycle enzyme that conserves energy by substrate-level phosphorylation. We show that SCS localizes to the enigmatic Blastocystis organelles, indicating t...

Pediatric diarrhea is a common cause of death among children under 5 years of age. In the current study, we investigated the frequency of intestinal parasites among 580 pediatric patients with chronic diarrhea. Parasitic protozoa (all species combined) were detected by molecular tools in 22.9% of the children and the most common parasite was Cryptosporidium spp. (15.1%). Blastocystis hominis wa...

Background: Despite continued and comprehensive planning of the world health organization (WHO), intestinal parasitic infections are a serious public problem in developing countries. Due to the high prevalence of cancers in Ardabil province and subsequently the high possibility of intestinal parasitic infections among the people, the aim of this study was to assess the frequency of intestinal p...

Modern research indicates a possible synergistic effect of bacterial-protozoal infestations in the pathology upper gastrointestinal tract, among which special attention is paid to problem giardiasis. Other parasitic agents, particular Blastocystis spp, are also gaining some significance. The aim study prevalence H. pylori and protozoal chronic gastroduodenal diseases influence on indicators enz...

monkeys are important experimental models for investigating human diseases. the aim of this study was to survey the alimentary tract parasites among imported vervet monkeys (cercopithecus aethiops) to iran. fecal samples were collected from 40 vervets imported from tanzania to razi vaccine and serum research institute of iran. fecal samples were assessed by direct smear and telman sedimentation...