6S4 



Balantidium Coli 



Habitat. — The balantidium is unknown except as a parasite of the colon. It is 

 very common in hogs and has been found in the orang-outang, in certain lower 

 monkeys (Macacus cynomolgus), and in man. 



Cultivation. — The organism quickly dies when transplanted to artificial media 

 and has not yet been cultivated artificially. 



Pathog.enesis.' — The presence of the organisms, in whatever kind of animal, 

 gives rise to colitis, which is at first catarrhal, but soon becomes more or less 

 ulcerative. Some doubt has been expressed as to the exact role of the balantidia 

 in the causation of the inflammation, some believing them to be rather acci- 

 dental factors than the true etiologic excitants. As the organisms descend into 

 the ulcerated tissues and from the denuded surfaces invade the lymphatics, 

 there seems to be little doubt of their pathogenic importance. 



Animal Inoculation. — Experiments made by Casagrandi and Barbagallo,* 

 KlimenkOjt and others upon kittens and pups have failed to produce the disease 



Fig. 267. — Balantidium coli deeply situated in the interglandular tissue of the 

 intestinal mucosa (Brumpt). 



even when the colon was already inflamed. Brumpt,t on the contrary, suc- 

 ceeded in reproducing it in monkeys and pigs by introducing the encysted 

 organisms into the already inflamed intestine via the anus. 



Lesions. — In the majority of fatal cases postmortem examination of the colon 

 shows it to be in a state of catarrhal inflammation with numerous superficial 

 ulcerations with considerable surrounding infiltration of the mucosa. Twenty- 

 four hours from the time of the death of the patient the balantidia are all dead. 

 Strong and Musgrave,|| Solowiew,§ Klimenko,** and others have shown that in 

 microscopic sections of the inflamed tissues the micro-organisms could be found 

 deep down in the blood-vessels and lymphatic spaces about the ulcerated areas, 

 sometimes penetrating as deeply as the serous coat of the bowel. Metastatic 



* "Bal. coli," etc., Catania, 1896, quoted by Braun. 



■ "Beitrage zur. path. Anat. u. allg. Path.,"' r903, xxxii, 281. 



: "Precis de Parasitology," 1910, 152. 

 J "Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital," 1901, xii, 31. 

 § "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., i AbL, 1901, xxix, 821, 849. 

 ** Loc. cit. 



