Annals of Clinical Microbiology, The official Journal of the Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology

6

Weeks in Review

4

Weeks to Publication
Indexed in KCI, KoreaMed, Synapse, DOAJ
Open Access, Peer Reviewed
pISSN 2288-0585 eISSN 2288-6850
Case report

A Case of Pneumonia Caused by Balantidium coli in an Immunocompetent Patient

Koung-Sun Lee1, Do-Sim Park1,3, Ji-Hyun Cho1,3, Hak-Yeol Kim2,3, Young-Jin Lee1,3

Departments of 1Labroatory Medicine, 2Internal Medicine, 3Wonkwang Medical Science, School of Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Korea

Corresponding to Young-Jin Lee, E-mail: jin20@wku.ac.kr

Ann Clin Microbiol 2010;13(4):178-181. https://doi.org/10.5145/KJCM.2010.13.4.178
Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.

Abstract

Balantidium coli is the only largest ciliated protozoon known to infect human and nonhuman primates. Balantidiasis is a zoonotic disease and is acquired by humans via fecal-oral contact between pigs and humans. The clinical manifestation includes mainly gastrointestinal symptoms; diarrhea and abdominal pain, but in rare cases extraintestinal spread to lungs has been reported. A few reports of B. coli were found in vaginal secretion, skin, gastric juice, and omentum, but there have been no previous isolated cases in the respiratory tract in Korea. We reported that the first case of pneumonia caused by B. coli in Korea in an immunocompetent 40-year-old woman who displayed symptoms of chest discomfort and cough, and was cured with metronidazole. (Korean J Clin Microbiol 2010;13:178-181)

Keywords

Balantidium coli, Pneumonia, Metronidazole