Blastocystis in Health and Disease: Are We Moving from a Clinical to a Public Health Perspective?

Abstract

Blastocystis is a genus of common single-celled intestinal parasitic protists with an unsettled role in human health and disease. Being a stable component of intestinal microbiota, once established, the Blastocystis parasite appears more common in healthy individuals than in patients with infectious, functional, or inflammatory bowel disease. Recent data suggest that the parasite is associated with certain gut microbiota profiles and health indices. Convincing data and tools differentiating asymptomatic colonization from infection are yet to be demonstrated. Although the parasite may elicit disease under certain circumstances, the focus on Blastocystis may be shifting from a clinical to a public health perspective.

FIG 1

The figure depicts observed significant relations between BMI, bacterial diversity, enterotypes, and Blastocystis colonization in healthy Danish individuals, as recently described by Andersen et al. (22).