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Protozoan Parasite Increases Risk of Colitis, Study Reveals

Colitis - American Health Council

Mice infected with the common gut parasite Tritrichomonas muris are at an increased risk of developing inflammatory colitis, new research shows. These findings expand the type of gut-resident microorganism that can affect the health of their host and suggest that related parasites may cause gastrointestinal disease in humans.

Researchers from the University of Toronto have discovered that mice infected with the common gut parasite Tritrichomonas muris are at an increased risk of developing inflammatory colitis. Their findings, which have been published online in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, expand the type of gut-resident microorganism that can affect the health of their host and suggest that related parasites may cause gastrointestinal disease in humans.

In recent years, researchers have discovered that the trillions of bacteria that reside in the gastrointestinal tract have an enormous impact on human health and disease. But the effects of other types of microorganisms that live in the gut, such as the unicellular eukaryotes known as protozoans, are less well understood. Though some protozoan species, which are part of the protist kingdom of life, cause diseases like malaria and leishmaniasis, the protozoa that commonly live in the gut are generally thought to be harmless.

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