TWO CASES OF BALANTIDIAL COLITIS 



By C. H. Manlove 



{From the Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Surgery, 



University of the Philippines) 



The disease in man produced by Balantidium coli with a fatal 

 termination can scarcely be called a common one in the Philip- 

 pines, although, according to Walker, (4) "the presence of Ba- 

 lantidium coli in man in the Philippines is rather common." 



An estimate of the occurrence of the disease in the Philippines 

 may be taken from the following: Strong (3) recorded 1 death 

 in 1904; Bowman(i) recorded 2 deaths up to 1911; Willets(5) 

 recorded 2 cases in one of the provinces without a death; 

 Walker (4) found 35 cases on the records at Bilibid Prison up to 

 1913, and he found 8 new cases in 1913; in the Philippine 

 General Hospital there are 20 cases on record, including the 2 

 cases I wish to report. The number of deaths recorded in 

 the Philippines is 5 from a total of 66 cases. 



Strong, in 1904, reported a general review of 127 cases which 

 he collected from the literature, including a case of his own. 

 He found that of the 35 deaths recorded there were 32 autopsies 

 performed, of which 28 showed an ulcerative colitis and 3 a 

 chronic catarrhal colitis. 



Walker worked on experimental balantidiasis, for which he 

 infected monkeys with Balantidium coli derived from human 

 beings and from pigs. Some of his conclusions are as follows: 



Parasitization of man with Balantidium coli is relatively common in the 

 Philippine Islands. * * * 



A large proportion of the pigs in and about Manila are parasitized with 

 balantidia. * * * 



Morphologically Balantidium coli suis is identical with Balantidium, coli 

 hominis. * * * 



The early lesions of the intestine of monkeys infected with Balantidium 

 coli consist only of a slight hyperaemia with or without punctiform haemor- 

 rhages. 



Histological examination of the tissues of monkeys recently infected with 

 Balantidium, coli shows changes, notably vascular dilation, minute haemor- 

 rhages, round-cell infiltration and eosinophilia, which distinguish them from 

 lesions of bacterial origin. 



Balantidium coli was never found entering the tissues through the lesions 

 in 10 parasitized monkeys having a colitis or ulcerations due to bacteria or 

 other causes. 



149 



