Balantidiasis
parasitic disease
Balantidiasis is a protozoan infection caused by infection with Balantidium coli.
History
The first study to generate balantidiasis in humans was undertaken by Cassagrandi and Barnagallo in 1896. However, this experiment was not successful in creating an infection and it was unclear whether Balantidium coli was the actual parasite used. The first case of balantidiasis in the Philippines, where it is the most common, was reported in 1904.
Currently, Balantidium coli is distributed worldwide but less than 1% of the human population is infected.
Pigs are a major reservoir of the parasite, and infection of humans occurs more frequently in areas where pigs commingle with people. This includes places like the Philippines, as previously mentioned, but also includes countries such as Bolivia and Papua New Guinea. Pigs are not the sole species capable of hosting B. coli. For example, the parasite also has a high rate of occurrence in rats. In a Japanese study that analyzed the fecal samples in 56 mammalian species, Balantidium coli was found to be present not just in all the wild boars tested (with wild boars and pigs being considered the same species), it was also found in five species of non-human primate: Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), White-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar), Squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciurea), Sacred baboon (Comopithecus hamadryas), and Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata).
“Balantidiasis” enters the record as parasitic disease. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Balantidiasis, parasitic and disease can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2447562. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1896 and 1904.
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This entry incorporates text from “Balantidiasis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.