Signs and symptoms

• Diarrhea - watery, bloody, and mucoid
• Nausea and vomiting
• Abdominal pain/cramps
• Anorexia
• Weight loss
• Headache
• Mild colitis
• Fever
• Severe and marked fluid loss resulting in dehydration (resembling amebic dysentery)

Causes

Risk factors for balantidiasis

• Contacts with pigs
• Handling fertilizer contaminated with pig excrement
• Living in areas where the water supply may be contaminated by the excrement of infected animals.
• Poor nutrition
• Achlorhydria
• Alcoholism
• Immunosuppression

Tests and diagnosis

• Wet smear stool specimens
• Chest X-ray may show pulmonary involvement in patients with balantidiasis.
• CT- chest reveals reveal pulmonary parenchymal and lymph node involvement.

Complications

• Perforation of ulcer
• Peritonitis
• Gastro intestinal bleeding
• Severe dehydration

Preventive measures

• Purification of drinking water
• Proper handling of food stuffs
• Careful disposal of human feces and excreta
• Monitoring the contacts of balantidiasis patients

Treatment

• Antibiotics- Tetracycline 500 mg 4 times a day for 10 days
• Metronidazole- 500 mg 3 times a day for 5 days
• Contact Amebicide- Iodoquinol