Human balantidiasis in Iran: an unresolved enigma?

Th2 responses without atopy: immunoregulation in chronic helminth infections and reduced allergic disease. Trends Immunol. 22, 372–377 9 van den Biggelaar, A.H. et al. (2000) Decreased atopy in children infected with Schistosoma haematobium: a role for parasite-induced interleukin-10. Independent effects of intestinal parasite infection and domestic allergen exposure on risk of wheeze in Ethiopia: a nested case-control study. Reduced risk of atopy among school-age children infected with geohelminth parasites in a rural area of the tropics. Effect of anthelmintic treatment on the allergic reactivity of children in a tropical slum. Long-term treatment of intestinal helminths increases mite skin-test reactivity in Gabonese school-children. An enteric helminth infection protects against an allergic response to dietary antigen. Eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyper-responsiveness are profoundly inhibited by a helminth (Ascaris suum) extract in a murine model of asthma. Trichuris suis seems to be safe and possibly effective in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Am. Enhancement of disease and pathology by synergy of Trichuris suis and Campylobacter jejuni in the colon of immunologically naive swine. Am. Does whipworm increase the pathogenicity of Campylobacter jejuni? A clinical correlate of an experimental observation. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing signal molecule N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone has immunomodulatory activity. Immune responses in human necatoriasis: association between interleukin-5 responses and resistance to reinfec-tion. Viral-induced T helper type 1 responses enhance allergic disease by effects on lung dendritic cells. Nat. Two types of murine helper T cell clone. I. Definition according to profiles of lymphokine activities and secreted proteins. Balantidium coli (Malmsten, 1857) (Ciliophora: Balantiidae) is the largest protozoan and the only ciliate parasite to infect humans. Infection with this parasite is not common in humans, and only 1000 cases had been reported before 1980. Its presence has been reported in parts of the world as far north as Sweden, Finland and Northern Russia, and the highest prevalence rates are in tropical and subtropical regions. Estimates of worldwide prevalence are usually !1%, although higher rates are reported in hyperendemic areas and in some residential institutions [1]. The presence of B. coli is frequently reported in Central and South America